Total Basset Case: DIY: Striped Wall

May 3, 2012

DIY: Striped Wall

A while ago I spotted this DIY over at Courtney's blog.
I was in love!
It immediately struck me that we have a similar wall in our house that was the perfect canvas.
I thought and thought and thought about what I wanted to do with our wall.

I kept coming back to the idea of big, fat stripes.
I. Love. Stripes.
One look at my closet and you can see that I am mildly obsessed.

I choose Valspar High Speed Steel and got to mapping out my plan
 I knew that I did not want to paint the air register that is on the wall.
The register measured 7 1/2" and I determined that I wanted my stripes to be 8" thick.

I started at the register and measured up and down in 8" increments and made a line with the level.

I found the tips in this post super helpful!
She mentions planning out the stripes so that you do not have to paint one at the top or the bottom.
Duh.
That makes perfect sense but I would have never thought about that before reading her post.

I taped off the stripes using painters tape
(horizontally and also vertically along the sides).
I put BIG pieces of blue tape in the areas I did NOT want to paint.
 
I read quite a few 'painting stripes' articles before I began this adventure.
They all suggested to paint over the taped lines with your base color.
This ensure that if any paint seeps under the tape it will already be sealed with your base color.
Super clear, right?
I used a small foam brush and it worked like a charm.
I had almost 0 bleed through from the stripe color.
Now it was time for the big guns
(excuse that dub chin I have)
 
 (this is a mini house tour for you guys too!)
Once I had the stripes painted I quickly took off the tape before the paint dried.
(another trick I read)
I had quite a bit of paint leftover (could have easily gotten away with a sample jar)
 and while contemplating what to do with it,
the Mister suggested re-painting the frames.
What is your vote?
Leave them cream colored or paint them gray/blue??
And one more for good measure
I really, really love the way this wall turned out.
It was so easy and quick.
I'd say that this project took me less than 3 hours,
you really can't beat that!

What do you think??

*p.s. sorry about some of the spacing and word sizes-blogger is not cooperating at the moment.


13 comments:

Jess said...

I think your stripes look great. I also think the frames painted blue would be a nice compliment.

Unknown said...

wow! i really REALLY love it!

Elise said...

Looks fabulous, Swanny!!!!

Katie said...

I loveeeee it!! Such a cute way to do an accent wall without it taking forever!! I think painting the frames could be a great way to add in that color a little more. Great idea to your husband!

Erin said...

Ooooh, I LOVE it!! We have a very similar set up and now I immediately want to go home and do this lol! I'm not sure the hubs would be excited about it though!

I think the frames would look really good painted!!

Darby Hawley said...

Oh I love the stripes! You did a great job!!!

Katie said...

I'm loving it! this looks so good!!! good job girlfriend! I think the paints would be cute painted too

Kate @ Daffodils said...

LOVE! I wish we werent in a rental or I would totally steal this idea. I think the frames would be really pretty in that color too.

Raven said...

I am the WORST DIY-er because I have NO patience but I wish I was good at it. The pics above look GREAT!!

Jennifer @ Delightfully Noted said...

I absolutely love it and all it's stripe gorgeousness!The color you picked is perfect. Now I wish I had a wall like that in my house.

In regards to your question on the frames. I think I would leave them white. They seem to pop more against the colored wall, although I do like the idea of frames in that gray maybe just some where else!

erica said...

Oh my goodness this turned out fabulous. I love it! xo

CALLIE said...

I'm a little behind, but this wall is fab!!!! LOVE IT!!!

P.S. I'm so jealous.

Jill @ Bluegrass Belle said...

I actually LOVE how that looks! I don't have any walls like that in my house or I would totally copy. I'd say that really adds a lot to the room!