DIY Painted Canvas Curtains

So in the 4 years we've been married, we've only had curtains on our windows once. When we lived in the basement apartment in Provo, I bought some $8 valance curtains at Walmart. In all the places we've lived, out windows have always been curtainless. Why? Idk, I guess when getting settled curtains are kinda last on the list I guess. Also, I think they are kinda stupidly priced. By the time you buy 2 panels (presumably for 1 window) and the curtain rod, you've spent $50. I'm cheap, so this doesn't work for me. 

I saw on Pinterest where they made curtains by buying a drop cloth at home depo, cut it up the middle, painted the 2 panels and then hung then up. Sorry I don't remember which blog it came from so sorry I can't give them credit for the idea. 

I bought the drop cloth at home depo for about $11. It just happened to be the perfect size. I have 10ft ceilings and wanted them to hang from really high up.

  I cut it right up the middle. I didn't really measure, just folded in half and cut. It's not a quilt or anything, so being precise doesn't really matter. The great thing about using the drop cloth is that you get a lot of fabric for cheap but also it's already hemmed all the way around! Now that you've cut up the middle you have 2 raw edges. You can fold the raw edge back an hot glue it down. I actually was out of hot glue, so I just decided to see it anyways. Not a big deal, just a straight stitch. So to make the sleeve for the rod, I just folded the top over a few inches and made another straight stitch. Again you can hot glue just as easy. 

For the painting you can use craft paint or fabric paint but for some crazy reason I thought I should use latex paint. I guess bc I had some red left from the cabinet doors I redid. It worked out fine, just smelled up my apartment for days. My original plan was to do something trendy like chevron, thick stripes,maybe even an ombré look. But then after a good look a around my living room I decide I really needed something really simple. There is a lot if busyness in the rug and lots I color  on the walls and the ladder shelf, so I didn't want to make it too crazy. So I decided to just paint the bottom 1/4 red and leave the rest plain. I did measure and tape off where I wanted the paint so it would be straight and even on both panels. 

I know it's hidden behind the TV. My thinking was that we won't be in this apartment forever. The tv isn't always going to be in front of the window. 

I spent about $25 total after I bought the   curtain rod and the paint. So I saved myself about 50%! 

I love how it completely changed the room! It feels so much more homey! I definitely underestimated the value in having curtains!