DIY French Striped Table Runner

For a long time now I have coveted these beautiful French striped table linens. I love the farmhouse vibe, the vintage appeal, and the simple beauty.

This beauty will run you $36.00 plus shipping from the UK (available at beyondfrance.co.uk)

This one is available through farmhousewares.com for $17 plus shipping. Not a bad price, but I didn't feel like spending that much, I never do. So I came up with an alternative...do it myself!

Last time we were at Ikea I picked up the Marit Table Runner in "Natural" for a mere $4.99, she's been working beautifully on our dining table, but this morning I decided I wanted to jazz her up a bit.

Countryliving.com offers instructions for doing something similar here, but I didn't have all the supplies they called for, so I improvised.

Using a tape measure I marked off in pencil where I wanted my stripes on each end. I then taped my tape measure down and, using my pencil, traced a straight line from end to end.

 I did this for each side of all 3 stripes (I decided I wanted 3 stripes, but use as many, in as many sizes, as you desire).

After I had my stripes marked off, I simply used a small paint brush and filled them in. My lines are not perfect, and totally not straight, but I'm used to my projects not turning out picture perfect anyway. :)

Total cost for this project was $4.99, the cost of the runner itself! The rest of supplies I already had handy, including leftover wall paint. I adore it!

From bland and boring:

To très magnifique, no?