Striped Walls

This is one of those projects that I thought would take a few hours.  It was a small room so I thought I could knock it out in a morning.  WRONG!  This took me all morning, all afternoon, and all evening.  I have never been in a small space for that small amount of time!!!  Here is how I “gotter done”:

#1 – Painted the wall the lighter color.

(Excuse the towels, I had guests come to stay the night after step one so I had to put some towels back)  I wanted the stripes to be white to help make the white toilet and tub pop and I wanted the other stripes to be a light sand color.  I used what I had left of my favorite Valspar color Oatbran.  I have used it in my guest bedroom, my master bathroom, and recently in my master bedroom.  My hope was that the mixture of sand and white would make my white with creme swirled countertop blend in.  (It really sounds hideous, but the swirls are subtle)

The wall was painted all white for the base coat.  I had to do two coats.

#2 – Tape stripes on the wall

To do this I used a long level, tape, and tape measure.  I wanted to do thin stripes, so in order to make it easier on my self I purchased the thickest sized painters tape and just used that to be the width of the stripes.  I measured 6 inches between each one.  I would use the tape measure to mark a few spots and then I would make a line down the wall using my level and a pencil.  I taped right above the pencil so I could still erase it.  After erasing the pencil, I used an old credit card to smooth out the tape.  This process took forever.  I got a Black and Decker laser level for a gift a few weeks afterwards.  It would have made this task sooo much easier.  The hardest part was around the toilet because I was too stubborn to take it out.

#3 Paint another coat of white over the stripes

This step is crucial.  The wall was painted with two coats of white and now the painters tape is covering where I wanted there to be white stripes.  If I just started painting with the other color, some of the sand color would bleed through the tape.  The credit card smoothing helps but it’s not 100%.  Not only does painting another coat of white over the tape allow the bleed through paint to be the same color as what you want the stripe to be under the tape, but it also seals it off so there is no bleed through when you paint the second color.

#4 – Paint two coats of the second color

Roll your roller side to side instead of up and down.  This helps prevent bleed through just in case step #2 and #3 precautions wouldn’t work.  If you roll up and down it can sometimes pull up the tape.

#5 – Let the second coat dry a little but before it completely dries, take the tape off.

#6 - Touch up any mistakes with a tiny artist’s paint brush

#7 – Take a nap or go order a pizza because you have worked hard at this point.  Then come back and enjoy your finished product!

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Thanks for reading! There is more to come….

Jennifer