DIY Drop Cloth Valance

Hi Friends! Boy, have these last few weeks been a journey. A journey and a half, probably. Some of you are well aware that I am currently a full time College of Business student, as well as a full time employee, trying to find my place.

Anyway, home decor and creating are my outlets for stress and frustration. Something about chippy paint, worn wood and vintage treasures brings me peace and joy. I've been feeling frustrated lately, by the amount of time, or lack thereof, that I have to dedicate to this peace and joy. But, by some freak stroke of luck and a burst of initiative, I undertook the massive project of turning my bedroom into my canvas, of sorts.

Now I do have a lot of plans for this room and as much as my impatient side hates it, these plans will take a while to complete. In the meantime, I have little projects like this one to tide me over.

Today I am going to walk you through this cute, and very quick and easy (I'm talking like 20 minutes tops) DIY Drop Cloth Valance. Not only is this quick and easy, but its also a pretty affordable. All you'll need is....

 * A Drop Cloth

Depending on the width of your window, you can purchase a smaller one, but I purchased a 9ftX12ft one for $19.99 so I could use the extra fabric for other projects. I got mine from a local retailer, but Walmart has this one, for a couple bucks cheaper!

* A Curtain Rod

If you already have one, you're in better shape than I was. I actually had one but it wasn't the finish I wanted but I purchased mine for $9.99.

* Curtain Ring Clips

            I got a set of 14 for about $10, just like these ones from Amazon. 

And that's it! 

Do that math and it totals to about $30.00, but that is only if you buy the large drop cloth. You could get away with a much smaller investment if your window is itty bitty. 

Okay let's get into it.

First I laid out my cloth. I wanted to cut the cloth on the 9 foot side, and in such a way that the bottom edge of my valance was the seam in the cloth so it would have a clean finish. 

Then I just cut the cloth at the fold crease that was left in the cloth. You could definitely iron your cloth, but I sort of liked the wrinkled look. 

Then, once it was all cut, I folded the top over about 4 inches. This is totally up to you. I just decided how far I wanted my valance to hang down and then how far I wanted the fold to come down. 

I repeated this on the opposite 9 foot side of the cloth so I would have two pieces. I knew that one wouldn't have the fullness that I wanted, mostly because my window is about 7 foot by 7 foot, a little longer than your average window. 

Then I started adding the clips. At first I just dispersed them evenly across the cloth, but upon hanging it up, I realized it was too droopy, so I ended up gathering more folds into the clips.

The gathering is another thing you'll want to play around with. I folded the cloth about 2-3 times before clipping it and this was my end result! 

I was really pleased with this first of many projects to get my room to a farmhouse paradise! I am looking forward to sharing this transformation with all of you!

Until the next project, 

Little Mitten Girl.