The Friday Five: Five DIY Projects Using a Sharpie

Welcome to The Friday Five, a day late! It’s spring break here, and I kind of forgot it was Friday, to be perfectly honest. Well, better late than never! In light of my DIY Custom Curtains post yesterday, I thought about what other DIY projects we could do with a Sharpie. Here are five DIY projects using a Sharpie:

1. DIY Custom Curtains

In case you missed it, here are my curtains that I customized using a Sharpie permanent marker.

This is an easy project – it only took me about an hour once I knew what words I wanted to write on the curtains. Total cost was about $10 – just the curtains, because I already had a Sharpie! Easy, inexpensive, great impact – love it! And totally customizable to what you want:

• You can use a different color Sharpie (I used black because (a) I love black and white and (b) the rug that was in the dining room was black and white);

• Use different words, depending on where you hang the curtains. For example, a friend of mine made these for her laundry room and used words relating to laundry – wash, fluff, fold, suds, etc.

Oh, and speaking of laundry, these curtains are washable once you’ve used the Sharpie on them. Just wash them on the gentle cycle. I’ve washed mine and they came out perfectly fine!

2. Outlining Painted Curtains

This is sort of related to #1, but not exactly. When I painted my son’s drop cloth curtains, I wanted the letters to stand out.

So after I finished painting the “DUKE” letters, I outlined them with a Sharpie, to create more contrast between the blue and white paint.

You could use a Sharpie to outline pattern or letters on anything painted, like a design on a piece of furniture.

3. Repairing Small Nicks in Dark or Painted Wood

When we moved, some of my picture frames got banged up. There were nicks in some of them that looked terrible.

For dark wood or black frames (the ones on my gallery wall are IKEA black frames), you can touch up those nicks with a black Sharpie and the frame will look good as new! This trick also works for table or chair legs, if you don’t have stain to match the wood.

4. Coffee Mugs (and other dishes)

One year for Christmas, I made these mugs for gifts:

I found the mugs at the dollar store! Take a Sharpie and write whatever message you want. Then bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Easy and totally customizable! You can do this project with plates, bowls, dog bowls – anything ceramic!

5. DIY Custom Lamp Shade

I love this project from my friend Jess at Mom4Real: a DIY stenciled lampshade using a Sharpie:

I love how the Sharpied (is that a word? Can Sharpie be a verb??) stencil transforms a plain ol’ lamp into something custom and beautiful!

What have you DIY’ed with a Sharpie? Share in the comments below!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great weekend!