Wall Stencil, Day 4.

Holy wall stencil, batman.

I am FINALLY done after four days. Granted, day 1 was trialing a variety of stencils and colors and day 2 was determining placement and how to get things level —— but still, it was a four day process. I probably worked on it for about 5 - 6 hours each day. Yikes. I’m pooped.

It was worth it, thought. It looks INCREDIBLE! Well, in my humble opinion.

Similar to the directions on the paint stripping bottle, the directions for the stencil lead me in the wrong direction! Liars, liars pants on fire! How could they?!?

I started by tracing out the little triangles that are used to keep it level. There was a triangle in each corner. From there, you move along the wall lining up the triangles to keep a level stencil. HA! Bologna! The stencil was not level. I am guilty of being a little OCD, so I, of course, broke out the laser to make sure things were level. The stencil pattern slowly went from high to low when looking left to right.

Plan #2 included measuring the stencil and creating our own markers (this was the hubsters idea). After measuring we used a hole punch to create new circles for notching the wall as we moved the stencil down the rows/columns. For a reason still unknown to us, this didn’t work either! UGH! SO FRUSTRATING!

Plan #3 was a little more risky for the cautious gal that I am. We set up the laser and the husband started by applying the first stencil at the center of the wall under the window. From there, we worked out creating a ‘T’ across the wall while keeping it level by using the laser to line up the bottom of the stencil and the sides.

IT WORKED! FINALLY!

Here is what we needed:

A mini foam roller, a paint tray and a piece of cardboard for getting rid of excess paint:

Supplies to build the leaning tower of laser level to keep things straight (check out the lights we purchased to put on either side of the bed!):

Dog laying so close to you while you work (LOVE):

And off I went…..as I said, I started by making a ‘T’ across the wall using the laser:

Blue painters tape was a very, very important tool as well. What made it tricky was not taping on freshly painted stencils. Since we ended up not notching out the stencil prior, I couldn’t move to various locations on the wall and had to stick to the rows/columns.

The finished product:

We determined that it is an optical illusion after I went about the project seeing the lighter colored columns (in bone white) and the hubster saw the little shamrocky patterns (in manchester tan —- a fav color). We love how it turned out and I can’t wait to see it with the lights and curtains.

I found that it was really, really important to do a few things:

  • apply paint evenly and make sure you have enough on the roller
  • never push the roller on the stencil, just lightly paint on
  • use a level!
  • wipe off the back of the stencil to be sure wet paint doesn’t get on the wall where you aren’t stenciling
  • given yourself plenty of time
  • purchase touch up brushes (~$2) to “clean up” spots at the end

Now it’s off to lay down. I’m pooped!