Since we have an open floor plan, I have a direct view of my breakfast area from our family room. And, it bugs me. Our breakfast area has been in a state of bland and boring for a while. So, one night, I got a wild hair to paint horizontal stripes on the wall that stares at me from the family room.
This is how it looked before:
I think my husband’s shoe in the floor adds a special touch to the before picture, don’t you?
And, here’s how it looks now:
This area is far from finished, but I couldn’t wait to show you my one wall :) Since there are lots of tutuorials out there on how to paint stripes, measure, etc., I’ll just give you a quick step-by-step of our process and share our main lessons learned.
Friday night, I painted the whole wall “Sherwood Tan” by Benjamin Moore. (This is the color most of the house is being painted next week, so this gave me a good opportunity to try it out.) I used an eggshell finish for this color.
Saturday morning, we started taping it off. I decided on 9-inch stripes, measured and marked them.
Lesson learned #1: Do not use an electronic laser. This totally didn’t work and resulted in a lot of frustration.
Lesson learned #2: Taping/painting horizontal stripes is not necessarily good for your marriage. Between our “debates” on the best way to tape, and one good meltdown by me, I’m not sure I see many more stripes happening in our house.
Lesson learned #3 (we learned alot during the taping process): Those people on Design Star simply cannot throw those crazy taped patterns up on the walls within a period of 3 minutes. There is obviously some major editing going on there.
So, we gave up on the first laser and decided to do it by just eye-balling it (in front of an audience).
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Just as we had put the last strip of tape up, the painter (who is doing the rest of our house) stopped by and strongly suggested we make a trip to Lowe’s asap and buy a regular, long level, take all of our tape down and start again. (He obviously was not as impressed with our “straight” lines as we were). So, we did.
Take two. This worked so much better and we had the whole wall taped within 20 minutes.
Lesson learned #4: Start with a long level.
After everything was taped, I used a credit card to smooth out bubbles in the tape. (Yes, I did use Frog Tape and it worked pretty well.)
Lesson learned #5: My painter gave me a great tip to prevent bleeding. I used an almost-dry paintbrush to lightly paint along the edges of the tape before I started rolling. Worked like a charm!
Once this was dry, I was ready to start rolling.
I used Benjamin Moore “Algonquin Trail” in a satin finish. (This was just one shade darker than Sherwood Tan.) And, another great tip that I read online was to pull off the tape as soon as I finished the second coat. It was amazing how much easier the tape came off.
At this point, I breathed a sigh of relief. . .
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I also thought the mirror needed some perking up, so I sprayed it a glossy black. More updates to make in this space, but I’m happy with the start of my progress.
What an impact wall. This looks great!
It makes a world of difference in this corner, love it! I really enjoyed reading the process it took to get it looking so great! Janell
This looks beautiful! I love the stripes!
*gasp* this is beautiful Emily! i was just about to write a tut on stripes, but I will be directing my readers to this one! Love the colors!
Emily, it looks fantastic! I would love to try that in my house, but I am not sure I have the courage. :)
Beautiful! And yeah, theses things aren’t easy on marriages :)
This was a great tutorial, thanks for all the tips. It really looks fabulous!
Glad to hear I’m not the only one having melt downs when projects get crazy. Have a great day.
Londen
ooh i love it! i have been wanting to do exactly that somewhere in my house, but not sure where.. might do the laundry room.
Emily…it turned out great!!! So funny to read the process! It does take a while to get the process down…I know from experience! AND…it does take longer than you think it will. BUT…the impact is as strong as wallpaper, and not as permanent!
Looks great! I have been struggling on what to do in our dining room since we have an open floor plan too. You might have just given me an idea!
Emily,
A great project and it is fabulous. the wall finished looks so great!!
Karena
Art by Karena
I’m so in love with this, why don’t you come on over and help with mine, lol! I’ll supply the chocolate and coffee or drinks if you prefer!
looks great! good choice!
Great tips! Love the final result, too!
I stopped in by way of the Sanatorium… I love this project. I don’t usually do them, projects, that is, but this one is tempting! Beautiful job and thanks for the lessons learned :)
Love your colors and the stripes are just fantastic. Great tutorial. Love the finished look. Hugs, Marty
I just “striped” a wall in my children’s playroom. Because it is the playroom, I was no where near as perfect as you were on this project. I figured it is my version of whimsical. Especially since we used 4-5 colors for the stripes. I really love your stripes. They are elegant and sophisticated.
Great lessons learned! I knew the trick about painting over the tape with the base color, but someone told me that they didnt have any problems with that using frog tape. Yeah, didn’t work for me. So at the end I had to go back and touch up. Anyway, great job on the stripes! I guess we were thinking alike this weekend huh?!
Your wall looks amazing! Great job on the stripes. It’s perfect! All you hard work really shows through. The black mirror is a nice touch. And, your daughter is adorable in the last photo!
What a difference! I love how it came out and I think it makes this whole space just stand out! Yeah for stripes on the wall!!
You are very brave. I would have been in the confessional after that project. :)
I love it! It looks great! We also painted horizontal lines (and frog tape) and it took me eight hours with a regular straight level. I did it while my husband was at work so we were able to avoid the arguing. Anyway, it was a ton of work but we enjoy it every day.
Ah the wait for pictures was totally worth it! It is gorgeous as expected! I’m pretty sure I’d drive myself nuts trying to get those lines straight…good tip on the extra long level.
Karla
Kerrisdale Design Inc
Stripes always kick it up a notch doesn’t it! It looks great! Oh and how sweet is it that your kids helped you! (:
Your space looks fantastic. The stripes really dress it up. It sounds like hard work, kudos to you and your hubs.
Gorgeous ! Love the stripes and that chest in black, perfection !
This is the most helpful post I have read in a long time – thank you, Emily. The wall looks fantastic – I love stripes!
I striped my entire dining room about ten years ago (vertical) and have not attempted any stripes since. That little project took me a good two weeks of taping and painting when I got home from work. Lots of work but so worth the result! Cannot wait to see more – you go girl!
fabulous, FABulous job! I have always been a sucker for stripes—especially on a wall. Well done! The perfect update and icing on your cake!
I am so jealous of your newly painted wall!!! Maybe I can talk my husband into doing this…
What a great idea, but it looks hard! Requires much patience, and for that reason, I would totally hire someone to do this for me! haha
First, you should have posted this before I did my stripes – they are sooo lean!! Opppss and second, yours are beautiful!! So, stop by my blog to see the great reveal: An entire week of giveaways!!
XOXO
Kiki
Impeccable!! It makes such a difference, really neat Emily, love it!
Wow, what a huge transformation. Looks awesome!!!!
It looks great, well done!
I love the stripes! It really shows off the detail of the chest of drawers too and makes the glossy black mirror pop. Thanks for great tips on painting stripes too.
Emily, this looks so fab! It totally makes the space shine!
Looks amazing! The mirror looks so luxe now!!
I just painted stripes in my guest bath, it is a chore, but so impactful!
Oh my do you have patience. I love the look, but I honestly know I could not handle this. It looks amazing!
Awesome, Emily! And, thank you for all your pointers – seriously, you’ve shared some great tips! I loved this post so much that I emailed it to my husband to let him know that one day he’ll be helping me w/painting horizontal stripes on the wall!! He can’t thank you enough!! :) LOL!
great job!
Emily, this looks just super!! I love it — and those are great tips. Love the almost dry brush tip. And don’t things go so much “better” when you have little helpers? ;-)
So great to know! I was considering doing horizontal stripes very soon and I will get a long level asap before I start :)
thanks!
Ahhmazing. I particular like the transformation from husband’s shoe to absolutelyfreakingadorable little girl.
It looks AMAZING!!!!
This is great! I am planning on doing some stripes soon and these tips are sure to help! :)
looks great, especially with the mirror painted black! your little girl in the last photo is adorable. thanks for sharing!
I love the stripes, what an impact! All the hard work was worth it. And just for the record, A LOT of home projects are not that great on a marriage…ha ha!
Nancy
All I can say is a HUGE THANK YOU!!!! We are about to embark on exactly the same project and your post is so timely and helpful. I also must add that although you had a lot of mucking around, the end result is fabulous! You must be very pleased. :-)
It doesn’t even look like the same space! Amazing!
Yay hubs! They look incredible!!
This turned out GREAT! It really brings out the lines in the dresser. And spray painting the mirror was a fantastic choice.
Kelly
Love those stripes…! :)))))
The wall looks great, such a statement! I would personally love to know where you got that pair of lamps, they are fantastic.
I’m clearly, late to the party but I was just thinking about doing this and then boom….you’ve done it and saved my marriage at the same time. Thank you!
Great job Emily!! Great tips that others would have had to learn the “hard way”!! :-)
I recently did stripes in my laundry room and had a few meltdowns myself. I really love the choice of colors. I kept mine much more neutral with a tan and white. LOVE your walls and the mirror!
Hi Emily! Kirsten @ 6th Street Design School actually sent me your post to follow your instructions for painting the stripes. I just got a start and hoping it turns out well. Thanks for the guide!
Saw you on Pinterest and i LOVE your stripes! I’m doing grey and white and I love that you put the tips in there! I was totally going to use a laser level and now I’m so not doing it!
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me and my wife is doing the same thing today…we just painted the first light color…and tomorrow we are going to do the stripes…thanks for the showing…
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Just stumbled upon your blog looking for tips on painting stripes down my entryway wall. LOVE the colors and LOVE the realistic instructions. Will definitely keep them in mind when I bite the bullet on this project. :)
Hi, Emily! I’m about to begin painting stripes in my office and would love to hear why not to use an electronic laser? I would think it would be much more accurate than a level…but I have both! Thanks so much, your wall is beautiful!
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Hi Emily I really like your blog. I have no sense of decor. I don’t know what to do with my empty house. Can I paint stripes on the whole floor? We have living room, family room, formal dining and kitchen open and connected. Would stripes look good on such a big area?
Thanks in advance.
Regards
Khushi
I love painted floors but I think a pattern is probably better in small doses. I’m not sure I would do stripes throughout an open living area.
Great lesson! I already learned new things. imidesignstudio.com
This turned out GREAT! It really brings out the lines in the dresser. And spray painting the mirror was a fantastic choice.new songs
Striped wall painting gives it a finishing look and the walls are looking more beautiful after painting.
ashburn painters
Could you tell what color paints you used??
I AM IN LOVE!!!!!
I just saw you said ““Sherwood Tan” by Benjamin Moore.” and “Benjamin Moore “Algonquin Trail” in a satin finish.”
sorry!
Its beautiful!