DIY Drop Cloth Curtains

These DIY drop cloth curtains are farmhouse style curtains made from PAINTERS DROP CLOTHS, and are a super cheap, easy, no-sew alternative for living room curtains.

During home renovations, my husband was busting his butt ripping up countertops, and building custom cabinet boxes. Where was my head, you ask? CURTAINS. One of my best (or worst) qualities is thinking so hard into something so small, that I feel will make a huge difference. For me, that was our curtains.

I spent MONTHS searching for curtains I’d like that was along the farmhouse decor spectrum, and I came up short EVERY TIME. They were not the correct size, I would need 6 panels, they were too sheer…. and the list goes one. I was using these curtains in our main living area, where two large sliding glass doors were present, so I had a large space to cover. 

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I got a 2 pack of drop cloths on sale at Home Depot for about $13 per pack, spending about $27 on the cloths. I got the clips on amazon, a 40 pack for $9. So for me, the total was $36 for 4 huge curtain panels. I already had the curtain rods from previous curtains that were hung. You can compare these DIY drop cloth curtains to these much more expensive ones below. In case you’re feeling lazy, and don’t want to put in the work. One panel costs more than my whole project did.. yikes!

ASSEMBLY OF DIY DROP CLOTH CURTAINS

The first thing you want to do, is wash them. They are very stiff, and have a weird smell when you first pull them out of the packaging. I washed them on a heavy duty cycle, but I almost regret that. Although, I’m not sure what the alternative was. Doing it on the heavy cycle, made little strands pull from the canvas that I had to trim off carefully. It wasn’t a huge deal, but something to be aware of. 

After they were all washed and dried, I laid them flat and measured accordingly. I bought the 6’x9’ drop cloths, and I needed 84 inch curtains. 9 feet = 108 inches, which left me with 24 inches of wiggle room.

Once I had them laid flat, with a plan in mind, I started folding the curtains. I just eyed it for a starting point. Then, I took a measuring tape to see how much I had folded, and wouldn’t you know it was exactly at 24 inches. Not a bad eye, huh? 

When I had one panel folded perfectly, and checked the length all the way down, I placed another panel directly on top of the first panel. This was so I could match them up, and fold them at the same spot of the previous one. I still used a measuring tape to confirm it was even. 

Since I now had the panels at the height I wanted them, I then bunched them at the top, by folding them over to make little creases. This probably isn’t a necessary step, but I did it to keep me organized, and to keep the clips an even distance apart. I used 10 clips for each panel. 

I did this for 2 panels, hung them up (to make sure I liked them), and then repeated the process again with the other 2 panels. 

Don’t mind my construction zone of a house, I took this photo mid kitchen rennovation!