I’m big into stripes as some of you know. I wear them, paint them on my walls, and love them in decorating. Last week while the hubby was out of town, I had decided I needed to do something to keep myself occupied. I had bought this stencil (it was GORGEOUS in person) and was so excited to use it in my master bedroom. But sadly when it arrived and I held it against the wall, it just wouldn’t work with my wall texture. With all the intricate sections in the design my wall was just too bumpy for the stencil to lay flat. I was so disappointed having already bought the paint and the stencil. Boo. Oh well, I called my mom (aka the craft queen) for a second opinion. Sadly, she agreed. I had to find something new to do.
I was skimming through some blog posts and I found this. Wow. I loved it. After doing some more reasearch on how to actually get the chevrons on the wall I realized I would need to make my own pattern. I know intense, right? After some thinking and sketches on paper I figured out my plan of action.
My plan would use a ruler, push pins, a pencil, and twine. I try to use things around the house, or else these projects can get pricey and even more timely.
MY PLAN:
Start in the middle of my wall and measure across the top 12 inch sections. I marked these 12″ sections with a push pin. From the side I measured the distance between the connecting wall and the last push pin, I then moved to the bottom and marked it at the same distance and worked across the wall. I now had push pins every 12″ across the top and bottom that were vertically even.
I cut my twine about 1′ longer than the height of the wall and connected the 2 even push pins, creating “lines” down my wall.
From there I randomly decided to use 6″ and 9″ for my chevron markings (less than 12″ yet not too small that I would have skinny chevrons). So on every piece of twine I marked every 6″ all the way down it, but every other piece I started at 3″ and the top of the wall. I hope this is making some sense.
I then took the paint tape and made straight lines connecting the 6″ marks. It can get confusing, so I drew a couple of them in pencil to keep everything sorted out. The taping takes FOREVER. Actually up until this point I spent about 9 hours on one wall, so it all takes forever.
After the taping is finished I use my original color (which for me was white) and I paint over the tape sections where I will be putting my new color. This prevents (or at least helps) the new color from bleeding under and creating the squiggly paint line. With stripes you definitely want super straight lines.
After this is done, start with your new color! I love this part because I could finally see it was coming together. I used two coats, waited about 30 minutes and slowly pulled the tape off.
Voila!! The color is a little crazy, but I love it!
If you are going to try it and have questions, please message me! I would love to help.
smittenwithpretty@gmail.com
Virginia: This was totally fascinating to read. You truly
have a talent!!!