Designing My Dining Room Curtains — Choosing The Elements
I’ve decided to create my own pattern for the new dining room draperies, so last night, I started looking for possibilities for the elements I want to use to create my pattern. And oh my goodness, there are so many good ones available!
Let me back up a bit a do a little explaining for those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about. If you’ll remember, I designed the floral wallpaper mural and the coordinating fabric for the studio curtains myself.
But I didn’t actually create the flowers myself. I bought the flowers from people who create the artwork and sell them so that individuals and businesses can create their own products using those artistic elements. You can purchase them and arrange them however you want to so that you can use them on fabric, clothing, wallpaper, advertising, and anything else you can think of. You just have to purchase the right license depending on whether it’s personal or commercial use, and if it’s commercial use, you have to purchase the correct license based on how many products you plan to sell. It’s a great way for those of us who aren’t artists to support artists and still be able to create our own fabric and other products.
I showed you the steps I used to create my wallpaper and fabric here: How To Create Your Own Wallpaper Design
So when I decided I’m going to need to design my own fabric for the dining room draperies, I headed back to Creative Market to see if I could find the perfect elements to use for my print. And I found so many possibilities! I haven’t even gotten to the designing process yet because I’m still sorting through all of the great possibilities that I’ve found to narrow them down to the ones I want to try out.
And just like I did with the studio wallpaper and fabric, I’ll probably end up purchasing at least two different packages to use together. I generally find specific elements from each package that I like, but I have yet to find a single package that has everything I need. So I’ll purchase two, or maybe even three, to create the final design.
Let me show you a few of the amazing options I’ve found. It won’t surprise you to know that I’m looking for watercolor flowers, and I want pink, teal, and green. So that’s what I put in the search on that website to find these.
As far as the colors, this one is pretty spot on. Remember that I want to find or build a dining table that I can paint in that bright, fresh green color, so I was pretty excited to find this Bouquets hand drawn watercolor botanical elements package with those bright green and teal stems with a pink flower. And it also comes with butterflies!
If you’re confused about how that is used to create a fabric pattern, you can refer back to my tutorial linked at the top of this post to see the details. But the simple explanation is that when you purchase one of these packages, it comes with all of these elements separate and on a transparent background. So you just need a photo editing program that allows you to add each element in a separate layer so that you can move each element around independently and arrange them however you want them to look.
So this package comes with each of these separate elements, as well as several pre-arranged bouquets that can be used as well. But I prefer to use the separate elements rather than the pre-arranged bouquets.
Anyway, I hope that makes sense how this works. I’ve saved 23 different packages that I need to sort through so that I can whittle them down to the two or three that I’ll use. I’m kind of doing that now as I’m going through them to show you the ones that I want to share with you. Obviously, I won’t share all 23 that I have saved, so I’m just going through them to show you my favorite.
This Vintage Florals hand-painted watercolor floral set also has the right colors, but I’m not sure if it has enough variety. This artist doesn’t provide a photo showing all of the individual elements like most of them do, but the listing says that it comes with 24 individual elements and 3 bouquets. But it has the pink, the teal, and the bright green.
This Jardin Del Sol watercolor floral set also has the right colors, but again, I’m not sure if it has all of the elements I want. So I’d need to add another set to this one. What I love about this one is that it not only comes with the individual elements…
…but it also comes with these background watercolor options that can be used as a background for the flowers so that they’re not on a solid color background.
Next up is this Peonies watercolor set. I love these flowers because they’re brighter and bolder than the previous ones, and that really appeals to me.
Here’s a look at a few of the individual elements that this set comes with, but there are many more, plus bouquets, seamless patterns (which can be used on their own as wallpaper or fabric), wreaths, and more.
This Valeria watercolor flowers set is a little different because most of the flowers aren’t exactly pink. They’re darker than what I would generally lean towards, but when I saw it, I audibly gasped. And that’s generally a good sign. But this set alone isn’t enough because, as you can see, there’s no teal, and I really want teal in my curtains.
Here’s a look at some of the individual elements that come with this set.
I’m trying to exercise a bit of self-control because I’d love to show you all of the ones I saved. They’re all so amazing. But I’ll just show you a couple more. This Meditative Clarity floral watercolor immediately caught my eye for obvious reasons. It has teal, pink, and BIRDS.
Here are the individual elements that come with this set…
But it also comes with these line drawings, which I think could be really interesting combined with the watercolor floral elements.
And finally, this is the Delightful Nature floral watercolor set. Not only are the florals beautiful, but it also comes with birds, which is a plus for me.
Here’s a look at the individual elements that come with this set. This one might be a bit too wispy and soft for me. I like my florals to be a bit bolder and more colorful. But I absolutely love that sweet little bird.
So as you can see, I have quite the challenge ahead of me. There are so many great options, and I think I’ve only shared seven of the 23 sets that I have saved. So not only do I need to eliminate 20 to 21 of those to get to the two or three sets that I’ll actually use, but then I need to arrange them in the perfect repeatable pattern for my dining room draperies. But I have a lot of good options, and a lot of great elements to work with here!
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Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.
Oh my gosh, how beautiful and so convenient, I love this! I cannot wait to see what you come up with. I loved one of the comments yesterday of putting the wallpaper on the ceiling, and frankly I love that idea, especially in a dining room. I think it would feel like eating and conversing in a beautiful conservatory. Can’t wait to see the fabric pattern.
Cheers to you, Matt and the Fur DYI Team!!!
How are you ever going to be able to choose??? Valeria reminds me a lot of your craft room floral. Maybe too much? The Meditative and Delightful Nature are my own personal favorites. They look very soft. Being able to place the individual elements to be cohesive beauty? Oh my. My mind boggles at your creative ability.
The Meditative Clarity is amazing, and the line drawings would make it feel different than just another floral watercolor print – it reminds me of your entryway bird mural that I also loved. Add some of the bolder flowers, and I’m sure you’ll create something perfect for the space!