Upcycling 1950's Curtains

This was one of the first projects Jeff and I wanted to tackle in our 1946 house. The living room and dining room had these 1950's style curtains that reminded me of my Granny. They were very high quality, well insulating and very meticulously maintained for decades. They even had the fancy theater style pull cord that makes them open and close. The problem is, they look like something a Granny would have in their house. We didn't want to get rid of them since they were still in really good shape and helped insulate our old windows, but we were on a mission to rid the house of the old lady style. These curtains just didn't really match with the feel we were going for in this house.


So, the solution was giving them a little make-over. I took them down and took all the shiny brass pieces and laid them out on newspaper.


I spray painted everything with a paint that mimics dark pewter. It also dries in a way that gives it a distressed aged look. The paint was designed for going over metal and had a high quality finish to it. It took about 3 coats of spray paint before the brass was covered. Then I rehung the rods and curtains.

Then I went to JoAnn's and found a remnant of some sheer sage green fabric in the clearance area. I just draped the fabric over the curtain rods to try to conceal the 1950's pleats in the curtains.



I thought this make-over brought the curtains into the new century. And the whole project cost less than $20!


Now we just need to do something about that recliner!