Blog — striped shades

My new studio is full of windows, which is so amazing!  My previous basement studio had one tiny ground level glass block that faced another apartment and a window that looked into our enclosed stairwell. 2014 coming up vitamin D!

The new studio windows face a courtyard and are covered with privacy decals allowing light in. But I have two giant widows that face the alley, and they are not covered so I was majorly lacking privacy at night. (The only back alley neighbor I met is a older man who reminds me of the next door neighbor in Home Alone - scraping shovel and all. While I am convinced we will some day be great friends, he will creep me out until then) 

I went to pick up some of the Ikea Tupplur shades (which are $5 off until April 2). I chose the white 47" and knew I wanted to embellish them but didn't have a plan in mind. I am trying to keep the accents in the main part of the studio black and white because 1) it's classic and bold and 2) it goes with everything, so they will work great with all the crazy colors that will soon be splattering the floors and printing tables. 

I highly recommend these shades as a blank canvas. They take latex paint and a roller well but also sharpies, so you could just write a love letter on these puppies and it would look amazing. 

Here's how I did it myself: 

Surface: It was really helpful to have my large printing tables to roll these out horizontally, but I think a dining room table would work. Also the shades I used were 47" and these come in a variety of sizes.

Supplies:
2 47" Tupplur shades, white
Black rustoleum latex paint
Painters tape 1.5" wide
3" mini roller
mini paint tray
4 chisel tip black sharpies
clear 6"w acrylic ruler  

Project time: 6 hours for both shades 

 

Step 1: 

- Roll out shade on large surface. (make sure you place scrap paper or a tarp/sheet under shades if you don't want to get paint on your table)

- With painters tape, measure 5" down from the top of the shade. This sets a guide to measure off the stripes. 

- Based on how thick you want the stripes, mark off with a sharpie where you want the next stripe to be. I used a 6"w x 26" clear acrylic ruler and marked every 3" all the way down.  

 

 

Step 2: 

-  Place painters tape along the bottom of the sharpie line and make sure the tape is adhered to the shade. I rolled it flat using the tape roll to "iron" it down. 

   

 

Step 3:  

- Once all taped and ready to go, roll the paint, covering the shade. I applied two coats.  Pull tape off following second coat.
- Let dry
- When I pulled up the tape I noticed it was the edges were bumpy and a little smudged. It looks more organic and painterly with the raw edged stripes, but I am a bit of a freak for clean edges. So I followed up each stripe using a fat chisel tip black sharpie and the acrylic ruler and that cleaned up the edges perfectly! But you could go either way and it would take much less time if you are ok with the raw edge look. 

 

  

 

Step 4: 

Hang and admire :)