Dorsey Designs

DIY and Interiors by Sarah + David

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and my knockoff project was …

The Schumacher Zimba inspired draperies and Anthropologie inspired ottoman!!! AND we made it to the next round! The next theme is paint and you might know how much I LOVE paint, so I’m pretty excited! We have an AMAZING project planned and I can’t wait to show you!
Today I thought I would share the tutorial for how I painted the draperies 🙂
It was love at first sight with Schumacher’s Zimba print for me! But $100 a yard definitely adds up for multiple panels. For our living room/office, 4 panels would be about $900, which is definitely not in our budget! We created a similar look by purchasing Ikea’s Lenda draperies and stenciling them.
Here’s how we did it:

We calculated the repeat at about 27″ wide and 32″ high, recreated the shapes in Illustrator, printed it on 8.5×11 sheets of paper and then taped them together. Having additional sections of the repeat is important when lining it up (the more the better, I wish I would of made a few more sections)!

I created a PDF of the pattern to be printed on 8.5×11 paper. Print the sheets, line them up and tape together. I numbered each sheet on the upper left corner, but you may want to cover that up once you start laying out the pattern to avoid mixing them up with the stencil numbers. I’d recommend taping paper to a table and then taping the print out to the paper to avoid them slipping around.  Download available HERE

After taping the guide to the table, we traced the shapes on clear plastic with a sharpie, then cut out with scissors. 
 
We used 1 part fabric medium and 2 parts BM sleigh bells (a warm neutral light gray) Side note: grays are tricky to pick out! They favor one color very easily. The best way to pick out a gray to hold it next to other grays (this helps show the undertone) and compare that way.

Double stick tape was placed on the back of the stencil pieces. The panel was centered and placed on top of the print out. The drapery panel was semi translucent so I could see the pattern underneath to line it up, a must for this project! Then I used a small foam roller to paint … a lot! Once done with an area, I moved the panel and replaced the stencil, lining it up from underneath.

Each panel took about 2.5 hours to stencil. Four drapery panels would of been about $900 in fabric, this cost about $50, definitely worth it in my opinion!

The ottoman tutorial tomorrow, I used a few new materials to cut costs, so I’m excited to share 🙂
 
I hope you enjoyed! I’m off to work on our paint themed project! Wish me luck!

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Comments

  5. I was right again. Woot woot!

    Can I ask where you got your gray ikat pillow? I some at Marshall's the other day that were very similar. Think I may run back out and get them.

    ~Mara

    Reply

  7. I knew it again and that's the one I voted for because I love it.
    Looks beautiful. I hope you get 1st this time.
    The nester had this picture on her blog the other day!

    Reply

  9. Love it all…and I guessed right, too, like a lot of others 🙂 Pretty excited for your source on those bench legs…they were the first thing I noticed and I showed my hubs who said something like, "uh, yeah, I guess they're nice," to which I replied something like, "WHAT?? You GUESS?? They are gorgeous, I can't wait to find out where they're from!"

    Reply

  10. I'm IN LOVE with your project! I've been eyeing the Zimba fabric for drapes as well but the price is killer. How well did your stencil hold up? Any bleed through on the IKEA panels? I don't think I'm brave enough to attempt this but I just might try 🙂

    Reply

    • Hi Caitlin! Thanks so much! Good questions! The stencil held up really well, I stuck a few new pieces of double stick tape as I went so that they would stay better. The paint did bleed through the panels, you could line them if you would like. Also, I did do two coats on most of it (I ran out of time, so I'll go back and finish the rest later!)

      Reply

  11. THis may be a silly comment, How did you know what the pattern repeat and actual design was? Did you get a sample of the fabric and copy or are you that skilled?

    Reply

    • Hi Kathryn! I based my design from the image on Schumacher's website, I imported it into Illustrator and drew from the image. I then could enlarge it so that it was the scale that I wanted 🙂

      Reply

  16. Beautiful! Turned out perfect!
    Would LOVE to know about the Valance, that's gorgeous too! Did you make that also?
    Thanks for the tutorial on the drapes!

    Reply

  20. I've been working on a black/white/blue scheme in my living room. I don't NEED drapes because our house is hidden behind trees, but I WANT them so desperately. My husband is too in love with our Craftsman/Shaker trimwork to cover it with drapes. Still, I am hoping if I bug him about it enough, he'll acquiesce. My second problem is finding the right fabric. What I love about Schumacher Zimba is that it's a simple geometric and it has more flow than a traditional stripe. Of course, the price is more than I would be able to spend, so I am smitten with your DIY pattern. Thank you for doing the work for the rest of us! Now i I can just convince The Mr. to let me go for it ….

    Reply

  21. I LOVE this!!! Thank you SO much for sharing the stencil! I was wondering what color the charcoal paint is that you used? I'm so excited to try this!

    Reply

  22. Hey Sarah! I'm going to try to do this for curtains in my dining room but it seems that page #13 on the PDF is missing. Or else maybe I'm "missing" something? LOL 🙂

    Reply

    • Hey! I check the file and it looks like I accidentally had two pages in twice, I removed one and added the correct one. Hopefully this takes care of it! Thanks!

      Reply

  24. I absolutely LOVE your blog! You are a true DIY'fer and I am so inspired by all your projects and your beautiful homes. I can't wait to start tackling some of my own furniture projects. You make it all look so do-able, especially to someone like me who is still new to remaking over vintage furniture.

    Reply

    • Hi Betsy! I’ve used all my stencils on walls with good luck. Let me know if you have a specific question 🙂 Thanks!

      Reply

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