How to Dress Up Blinds and Shades with Paint

A single stencil (and no measuring) makes painting these bold blooms a snap. Low-tack spray adhesive helps hold the stencil in place while you apply color. Keep the paint very light around the outside edges and let some areas fade into nothing.

Leave the stencil in place while you add shadows, and remove it before you paint detail lines. With both large and small spaces to fill, you can use various diameter stencil brushes. The larger the space to fill, the larger the brush you can use.

• Roller shade
• Permanent marker
• Clear acetate: .05 millimeter
• Crafts knife
• Low-tack spray adhesive
• Brushes: #1, #4, #8, #10 stencil; #8 flat stiff-bristle; #2 round stiff-bristle
• Benjamin Moore color samples: Coral Gables 2010-40 (CG), Ravishing Red 2008-10 (RR)
• Delta Ceramcoat acrylic crafts paints: Hydrangea Pink (HP), Village Green (VG)
• Plaid FolkArt Apple Barrel acrylic crafts paint: Pastel Green 466 (PG)
• Deco Art Americana acrylic crafts paints: French Vanilla (FV), Green Mist (GM), Yellow Ochre (YO)

1. To make a stencil, use a permanent marker to trace the stencil pattern from the pattern packet onto clear acetate. Cut out the acetate stencil with a crafts knife. Spray the back of the stencil with low-tack adhesive and gently position on the shade.
2. Stencil using a dry-brush method (see "How to Dry-Brush Stencil" above). Choose a stencil brush that best fits the area to be painted: larger brushes for larger spaces; smaller diameter brushes for smaller spaces.
3. Lightly apply CG to petal areas and center circle, allowing color to remain transparent. Lightly apply RR along some of the edges to create shadow and depth. Next, apply VG to leaf and stem areas, and add PG to create shading and depth.
4. Remove the stencil. Fill in flower center with FV using the #8 flat brush. Apply YO to create shadow and depth. With the #2 round brush, paint outlines where desired using RR for flower petals, GM for leaves and stem, and HP for dots in the flower center. Following your paper layout, remove patterns one by one and stencil remaining designs onto the shade.