Craft Paint on Fabric? Yes! Hand-painted Abstract Curtains

The second room I designed in the Love Your Neighbor house was the kid’s playroom. They have 4 girls ranging from 2 years old up to 10, so I wanted to make it a room they could all use, and use for a long time. While I love doing a fun subject matter, I’ve learning that kids quickly grow out of Disney characters and princesses. Color however, can last a long time and be easily changed out. We also had the issue of a reaaaaalllly long window (112 inches) that we wanted to put privacy curtains on. I had found some really awesome poofs for the kids to sit on, but I couldn’t find window coverings that I loved to go with them, so I decided to paint my own fun and colorful window coverings, and I used craft paint. The question is, can you use craft paint on fabric? Yes! I did for these hand-painted abstract curtains for the playroom. Once you have the colors, it’s just a matter of painting shapes such as circles, half-circles, dots and random blobs. It should be fun and free feeling!

 

 

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You can see beforehand it’s just  a plain room. Since every space is on a budget, LYN relies heavily on donated home goods. Everything in this room was a donation, the only new items were the poofs and the curtains.

Since we had the furniture, it was a matter of filling it in with color and fun stuff.

I used ordinary DecoArt craft paint (the colors are: Tangerine,Antique Gold, Colonial Blue,  Spiced Pumpkin,Desert Cactus,Georgia Clay, Warm Beige, Burnt Orange. You can find them here on Amazon.). One question I was asked when I posted this on IG was “Do you always need a fabric paint when painting fabric?” The answer is no, you can use craft paint on fabric (especially if you’re in a pinch) and here’s why…

Using a fabric paint or a using a fabric paint additive like a textile medium helps keep the paint soft, and for it to have resiliency when washing and adhesion to the fabric. I knew that wasn’t an issue for these curtains, and it was ok if the texture was a little bit rough. I wanted that “brushed” on look in some places. The paint wasn’t going to be thick enough to be “crunchy” or hard.

If you’re painting something with a heavier coat of regular acrylic paint and need custom colors the fabric paint doesn’t come in, and want it to feel soft, use a textile medium.

And if you think you are going to be painting on something that is going to be worn or washed always use fabric paint or a textile medium additive. Even though bright colors aren’t what I tend to use at home, the playroom for the Love Your Neighbor house has to be fun and cheery, right? It was fun to step out of my comfort zone a bit and go super bold with these custom hand-painted abstract curtains for such a great cause.  I  am going to be partnering with them again, so I’ll share those rooms too, and some of the other designer’s rooms too.