While we were on our big trip, we got an idea to incorporate a fabric-covered wall into our living room....
We wanted to use burlap, so we went to JoAnn's and found a bolt of this printed burlap on the clearance rack. It was just about the right size, so we bought the whole thing for under $20. This picture shows strips of wood that were stapled to the edge of the fabric, so I could easily hang it against the wall for attachment.
Here it is in the middle of being suspended from the wall. I simply nailed the strips to the wall. The top area will eventually be covered by crown molding anyway, so I'm not concerned about damage.
We then used Kilz oil-based primer to soak the fabric. When it begins to dry, it becomes very tacky and sticks quite well to the wall. We used no glue, just paint.
We had to work hard to make sure that fabric stayed against the wall until the paint tackiness took over. Diane is working on one of the bottom panels which was especially difficult to work with, since there were no strips to hold the fabric in place. The bottom panels (one on each side of the arch) had to be constantly worked until the paint became tacky enough to support the panel.
Two
entire gallons of the white primer were used on the fabric. Here is Diane applying
the first of four coats of the final green color on top of the primer. By this time,
the wood strips have been cut free from the fabric and removed, and the archway cut
out.