- 1). Wash the canvas Roman shade by scrubbing with a clean sponge or a stiff brush and a little detergent and water. Diluted dish soap is fine. Blot and rinse the shade until all dirt and soap are removed. Let the shade dry.
- 2). Lay the canvas shade flat on a drop cloth on the floor, fully extended, interior side up. Paint the interior-facing side of the shade with leftover wall paint so it matches the newly painted room. If you want the shade to stand out, use room trim paint or paint to match bedding, decorative pillows or upholstery. Cover the canvas well so no pin pricks of light will shine through once the paint dries. If any areas of shade soak up paint quickly and unevenly, go over them again with the paintbrush.
- 3). Make a sponge stamp out of a new, large kitchen sponge while the shade is drying. Choose a symbol -- a Chinese or Tibetan character word, a rune, an Indian or Mayan pictogram. For a nursery, use a simple animal shape, like a bunny or a duck. Draw or copy the symbol and enlarge it on a copier until it is about 4 inches tall or a suitably visible size. Cut out the paper symbol, lay it face down on the sponge and trace it with laundry marker. Remove the pattern and use a craft blade to cut away everything but the design on the sponge so the symbol is in relief. When you stamp it, the mirror-image design will come out correctly on the shade.
- 4). Stamp the symbol on the dry, painted shade. An elegant and understated symbol application is a series of stamps running down the center of the shade. Dip the sponge stamp in a flat dish with a shallow layer of fabric paint spread over it. The paint should be a high contrast to the color of the shade -- bone against slate gray, red against celadon, turquoise on yellow. Very carefully, stamp the sponge symbol in the middle of the painted canvas shade on every other panel. Don't press too hard -- the sponge finish should show slight gaps from the impression of the holes in the sponge. Let the stamped images dry.
- 5). Hang the finished shade in the window. As the sun shines through it, the paint will create an interesting parchment effect. At night, the interior lighting will make the shade as opaque as the surrounding walls. The original stamp picks up the theme of the room's decor or adds a very personal touch to a custom window treatment, made for pennies from leftover paint and a salvaged shade.
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