$4.00 curtains.

I had white cotton sheers in the living room.

Had.

I bought $4.00 worth of store-brand black tea.

Ready?

Wash curtains. Especially if they are like mine and have black dirt on the top of the tabs. 

I have 6 panels.

Fill up your washing machine with hot water, on large setting.
Take paper tags off of tea bags and toss into washer. I put all 48 bags in.

I let them steep about 10 minutes or so. Maybe a little longer.

I took them out with a strainer and pushed down to get all the tea out.

Then I added my 6 curtain panels.

About every 10 minutes I would close the lid so the machine would agitate, then I would lift the lid so the machine would stop and the panels could soak.

I did this for at least 30-40 minutes. 

Then I closed the lid and forgot to pull them out after the first drain cycle, so it ended up running through the whole cycle.

The end result was pretty impressive!

Can you see the difference? It looks very similar to muslin, but just a shade darker.

After I took the panels out, I dried them for just a couple of minutes to get the wrinkles out, then hung them over the shower to dry. 

After they dried, I did notice a couple of spots by the hem on two of the panels where the tea was a much darker stain, almost like a mark of dirt. Luckily, I was able to put the panels up in such a way that the spot was hidden by furniture.

When I was finished, I put a large cycle on and just ran some laundry soap and bleach through the washer to make sure I didn't tea-dye all my big -girl panties later.

Here is a link I looked at for some ideas on how to do this:

http://www.reddawn.net/quilt/teadye.htm

The panels in the dining room:

I especially like them with this old dictionary banner I sewed:

Oh, yes. More on the banner next week!!

Definitely.

The next thing to do is to get different rods...

or spray paint the old ones!

xo

lynn

linking to:

Inspiration Friday

and

Vintage Inspiration Fridays

and

Wow Us Wednesdays

and

Feathered Nest Friday!

o.k., 

and....

SNS at Funky Junk Interior