Aug 15, 2010

Curtain Alternative

I can honestly say that there are only about four things that I salvaged (temporarily) in our townhouse when we bought it - and one of those things was the curtain that covered our back door.   

When we were painting our family room I burnt a big hole in the curtain with a light bulb from a (shadeless) lamp I was using for extra light.  You'd think the big hole in my curtain would be the motivation I needed to buy a new one.  Um no.  I let the curtain hang on the door for another six months. 

Two weeks ago, I measured the window and finally went to BED BATH & BEYOND for a new curtain.  Bought one, brought it home, started to hang it...and I realized it didn't fit.  Ugh. 

That's when I started thinking about what kind of curtain alternatives there are.  And then, I  remembered there was such a thing as frosted glass spray paint...and I've always wanted to use this stuff!!!  Now I had a reason to!

Here's what I did:
Two days before the idea for this project popped into my head I purchased this DURA-LAR paper below at Michael's craft store.  I bought the durable (and washable) material to make stencils for my curtain makeover project (currently in progress).

I used the DURA-LAR and craft knife shown above to make my stencil. I knew I wanted to do circles (easy breezy. modern. fun. nice looking.) so I searched around the house for a circular object to trace. I outlined one of the panels on the back door so I knew how much space I had to work with. A tea light turned out to be the best item to trace.

I used a ruler to draw straight lines- this was helpful in making sure my circles also stayed in a straight line while tracing.  Once my circles were traced, I used a craft knife to cut the circles out.
Here is my stencil after the circles were cut out.  See how perfect it fits into the panel area.

The only other materials I purchased for this project was double sided tape and Valspar frosting spray paint.

This is our back door BEFORE.
This picture shows how I used the double sided tape.  The tape was great for ensuring that the stencil stuck to the glass closely, in order to prevent the spray paint from bleeding.
The back door AFTER.
Here is another shot of the back door shown in a different light. 
This is a shot of the door from the outside looking in at night time.  This curtain alternative provides the right amount of privacy we need, while still allowing an abundance of sun to shine through. 

19 comments:

Hilary said...

Clever Idea for a curtain!

Kate Riley said...

Very clever ! I can see many stencils used this way to provide privacy, great job!

Kate Riley said...

A very clever idea ! I can see many stencil designs used in the same way, great job!

Michelle @ Dream Home DIY said...

Great idea! Its such an awesome way to let light in still and give you plenty of privacy

idesign said...

very cool :)

Anonymous said...

so gorgeous! I have to try it!!!

Tru said...

This is so cool. Say hello to your newest follower. I like your ideas.

Faith's Place said...

what a wonderful idea!!! i have been looking for something like this to do in a bathroom window! thanks for the inspiration!

Stephanie said...

Oh thank you so much for sharing this! I had no idea there was that type of paint out there. My daughter and son-n-law are buying their first home, and one of the windows on the second floor looks right into the neighbors window! Not a good thing for a master bedroom. Yours turned out so cool, I love it. So I am going to try this out, thank you so much. Saw this on Tatertots and Jello.

Lei said...

This is an incredible idea. Filing away!!!

Unknown said...

what a fun useful idea! come on over and link up to MMM :)

brokeintrovert said...

Great idea! Looks wonderful.

KimMalk said...

What an amazing project! You did a wonderful and creative job.

Anonymous said...

I adore this idea! I have a plate glass window in my back door and have been desperately working on an idea to help with some privacy. This is awesome! Your great results have inspired me to get moving on that project!
Thanks for sharing!

Amy @ All In A Day said...

I just found your blog and saw this! What a great idea. I have a back door that is itching for some privacy as well. The hubs and I bought that frosting paint a while back but have been afraid to use it because we were scared of uneven coverage. Did you find you had a hard time with getting even coverage?

Unknown said...

I really love this. Such a great modern simple look for almost nothing. Bravo!

Ray* said...

Amy @ All In A Day: Thanks for checking out my blog and I'm so happy that you enjoyed this project. To answer your question, no, I did not have a hard time with getting even coverage. Just be sure not to hold the can too close to your targeted spray area.

Good Luck!

It's Nici....YO! said...

I love this! Our back door, which is essentially our kitchen, looks directly into our neighbors back yard! I'm wondering if you could tell me if this paint is easily removable? We went our home now, and want to be able to leave the home in the condition we moved in,but we'll be here for a while so would like to attempt this! Thanks!

Ray* said...

Hi Nici! Thanks for stopping by. Although you CAN get the spray paint off the windows, I don't think it's super easy - you'll have to put some elbow greese into it.