DIY Ombre Curtains

The first thing I do when I move into a new place is take down all the vinyl blinds. My reasoning, is that if there’s nothing on my windows, I’ll forced to find something to cover my windows other than blinds, which I hate.

The move into our new house was bittersweet: the new house is fantastic and we love it, but I lost my job two days after moving, so money’s been tight. As a result, I’ve had to be extra-creative when decorating, in order to save money.

I had a pair of mint-green curtains that weren’t really working with the new living room’s gold/aqua/red color scheme I’d decided on (mostly because of a vintage gold couch we had just purchased.) So, I decided to make the best of it and make it work. How-to instructions here.

(Left to right: Anthropologie’s Ocean Swell Curtains & Flamenco Shower Curtain; Bliss Living’s Amelie Green Shower Curtain)

You Will Need:

• Curtains (preferably old curtains, but these were $7/ea. canvas curtains from Target from a few seasons back)
• Bleach or Dye
• A Bucket
• A Bathtub
• Rubber Bands
• A Wooden Spoon (or something similar to push the fabric into the bleach)
• Rubber Gloves

My husband keeps a constant supply of rubber bands in the kitchen at all times. Sometimes they come in handy.

I decided to break the curtain up into four sections.

If you’re using dye instead of bleach, use the directions on the dye. I know, I know, I just went through the whole “chem-free house” thing, but I still had some bleach… might as well use it, right?

I don’t know how it goes with the dye, but with the bleach you could see it getting lighter. I think all-in-all I soaked the curtains for about 15 minutes.

You could also go ahead and run the curtains through a cycle with out soap. I was impatient, so I didn’t.

I just went with a ribbon trim (leftover from my wedding) but plan on — at some point — embroidering the bottoms or painting on designs like the inspiration curtain.

No-sew tape is my favorite thing. I use it all the time. I have and use a sewing machine, but sometimes it’s just such a… hassle.

This picture isn’t great, but the gradation from dark to light is really subtle. I’ll probably add some more embellishment at some point. Overall I’m very pleased with my salvaged curtains!