cream to gray err...black and 3 trips to Michael's in one week

After lots of "we need too's, what about if we's" I decided to take the plunge. The plunge involved a trip(s) to Michael's, hot water, salt, gloves, and an under the bed tote container oh yeah and of course some patience (anyone know where I can buy that in bulk?).

The project was turning our cream roman shades into gray roman shades, easy enough right? Only easy of you have enough of all the supplies which is where the (s) in trip comes in.  Originally the goal was to dye them gray so 1st trip to Michael's I picked up 2 packages of gray dye and headed home.  I followed all instructions very carefully and when inserting the shade into the tote I found I needed more water (problem #1) well more water would then effect the strength of the dye so I used the 2nd package of dye. When I added the second package of dye and water I was unable to mix it very well due to the shade being in the tote already (problem #2) this resulted in a shade that was gray with darker gray spots very randomly throughout it.  I rinsed shade 1 and transported it very carefully down to the basement to hang dry (I could not get the shades off the rod and they do not fit in washer to properly rinse).  Since I had the tote out and I re-stirred the dye mixture I went ahead and inserted shade 2 and let it sit for the proper time that was on the package. Once time was up I took the shade out and rinsed it and took it down to dry.  Immediately I could tell my shades didn't match (problem #3) this was due to the dye mixture being a little weak for the 2nd round.  So in my 1st attempt I learned I need 2 packages of dye per shade. I let a day go by to re-evaluate and figure out a plan to correct this problem.  The only option I came up with was that they now just need to be dyed black it was the only way to garuntee they would match. So back to Michael's (trip 2), bought 4 packages of black dye 2 of one brand and 2 of another. Oh and I bought gloves this time as learned that slightly dyed finger tips are not all that attractive.

Round 2: I mix the dye packages of brand 1 and insert shade that was the lighter of the 2 grays.  After time was up I rinsed and hung to dry in basement and without it drying I knew that it was good.  Aahhh the feeling of relief knowing that one shade is DONE!! I dumped the tote and started all over again with brand 2 and shade 2, again followed all directions and when time was I up I rinsed and took it down to dry and I immediately noticed a small problem my blacks didn't match (problem #4).   Due to the different brands of black so back to Michael's we go (trip 3).  I don't waste anytime and start the process all over again for the second shade (I bought matching brands this time) Rite was the brand I went with.  So round 4 begins and finishes successfully. So about $20 and some time and we have new roman shades, I think I still saved some dough but might have lost some sanity and of course patience along the way but also learned some good lessons.

The before:

The during (round #1):

 The After:

The before and after:

The during




The after, after: