To stripe or not to stripe…that was my question for a good 3 months before I finally gave up and reasoned that I’d never know unless I tried. I think it is important to note before I go forward that I was not blessed with the most patience. In truth, I virtually have none. So in the next few paragraphs, you will notice I don’t take time to get into the details of how I completed each step etc. Because I didn’t. When I say “measure a few points and then mark your stripe”. That’s what I did. I can’t even bring myself to take time to find a stud in the wall before I hang a picture.
I started with a roll of painter’s tape, a pencil, a tape measure, and determination (read: stubborness). First I measured the height of my wall and divided by the number of stripes I wanted (this gave me the height of each stripe). Then, measure and mark up from the baseboard at various points across the wall to make sure your lines don’t get all willy nilly. Two important points: 1. Keep the tape on the inside of the stripe that will be the original wall color and the outside of the stripe you will be painting. If you are like me, this will confuse the mess out of you and will spend most of your time repeating this and staring at the wall thinking too much. See how some of the stripes below look wider than the others? Paint the wider one, just trust me.
2. Hopefully you have extra paint the same color as your original wall color. This will save you MAJOR headaches when you remove the tape BUT it can cause more confusion: Paint the existing wall color over the edge of the tape on the inside of the stripes you will be painting the new/contrasting color. This will seal off the tape and prevent the new color from bleeding through so that your stripes are clean. So for my example here, I painted inside the wider stripes with the butter yellow before I painted with the charcoal gray.
I know you’re thinking thats too much trouble to go to…but look at the clean lines!!!!
Who knew painting could be such a brain teaser? (Note: paint fumes and thinking don’t mix! Open a window!)
I absolutely LOVE the results for this breakfast room though! The furniture is a mix of pieces found and bought; recovered and well-loved. It all comes together and feels comfortable and cozy. A great place to sit and read mail or eat a meal. Or just to rest my head after all this stripe madness!
Rae Russell Designs 