Almost But Not Quite

So, since it’s taking me waaay to long to finish the ‘secret’ nursery project I’m going to just give in and let you all in on a sliver… 

I’ll let you in on the full monty next week but just to tide you over, I’ll spout out a little tutorial just in case you wanna go painting stripes before I get that far.  :)

Before I start, let it be known that it was not my original intention to paint the nursery walls even though the thought of stenciling them or painting them was tempting.  I could’ve worked around the beige walls and thought that leaving them was free made it the right choice…until the diy in me got the best of me AND I saw this on Pinterest: (image found via Pinterest from here)

The stripe-lover in me had to.  I loved the look of the thinner stripes.  I also loved that diy-ing stripes would be relatively cheap considering I had most everything I needed to do it on hand.  So, thin or thick, white or red or blue or pink, here’s how I did it (correction…am doing it):

Step 1:   Decide how thick/thin you want your stripes.  You can make them all the same width, you can alternate thick and thin, you can even do a bunch of different widths, horizontal, vertical, diagonal…whatever gets your inner zebra goin’.  I went horizontal and did a mock-up with Pixlr to figure out how many stripes I wanted.  I ended up with 14 stripes all the same width.  Also included in this step is picking out colors.  Depending on the colors you go with, you’ll probably have to paint your room a base color before you put the stripes up.  I went with the custom beige I already had up and an off-the-shelf plain white in a satin finish by Olympic.

Step 2:  Mark your measurements.  The easiest way is to simply grab a ruler a make pencil marks at every point a stripe edge would be.  You should only have to do this once (if you go horizontal like me) since, once your stripes are drawn on, you can simply follow them around the room.  Since I wanted 14 thinner stripes, I measured the length of my wall, top of the baseboard to ceiling and divided by 14.  Doing that meant that my stripes would be 6.6 inches wide.  So logic would follow that I would make a mark every 6.6 inches.

Step 3:  Draw the lines.  If you’re lucky, unlike me, and have a laser level you can probably skip this step entirely and move on to step 4.  We have a plain ‘ole long level that I used. 

If you don’t have either you could continue marking and just connect your marks around the room.  I started at a mark, leveled up against it, and drew, and drew, and drew…all around the room.  Actually, I did one wall at a time but that’s a moot point.  I also used a pencil for this step because I could simply wipe it off after if need be.  It would be helpful to use a pencil of the same color but depending on how much drawing you’re doing, sharpening it might be pain in the rear.

Step 4:  Tape along the lines.  Make sure to tape a teeny, tiny smidge under or over your pencil line so that it’s painted over and therefore disappears.  I used Scotch, one inch, blue painters tape.  I also stuck a few little pieces of duck tape into the areas I didn’t want paint just to make sure there were no accidents.

Step 5:  Make sure tape is securely adhered to wall.  Meaning, press down hard when applying it.  You don’t want leakage.  Our walls have an orange peel texture making my stripe painting a little more difficult.  To make sure my tape was stuck on good, I put an old sock on my hand and went along every tape line, pressing as I went.

Step 6:  Paint.  The width of your stripes will determine the roller size you use unless you go at it with a paint brush.  I actually thought I’d use what I already had, a small foam roller, which ended up getting a big, fat ‘F’.  I should’ve used a roller with a nap to it because of the orange peel.  I ended up painting one entire wall, removing the tape, and then realizing I needed another coat.  It was back to step one and a lesson learned for me – use the right tools, even if it means you can’t use what you already have.  Thankfully, ReStore had what I needed for mere pennies and it was back to the wall I went.

Step 7:  Remove tape while paint is still semi-wet or asap.  Waiting until hours or days pass could mean taking tape off will also take paint off.  I removed it right after I was done painting.

Step 8:  Do touch-ups.  I had some drippage in a few corners and a few minor leaks under the tape here and there so I just touched up those spots with the extra beige paint I had on hand and a small paint brush.

Step 9:  Pat yourself on the back and admire…or rush back to life with twins, whichever your life situation allows.

Step 10:  Stop in next Saturday and see the final result!  I’ve got one wall to go but I’ll be sure to have it done by then!

Update:  SEE THE REVEAL HERE!

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Cost breakdown:

Paint:  $12 (I used leftover paint from painting our guest bath cabinets plus a purchased quart.)

Tape:  $10 for three rolls (I had one already and probably would only have needed to buy two more if it weren’t for my mistake mentioned in step 6.)

Paint rollers:  $1 for two (I had the handle.)

Things I owned and used:  retractable pencil, a level, and an ipod to keep me company  :)

Total spent:  $23

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Hope to see you next Saturday!

Until then, Ana clued me in on Mary’s thrift store challenge and I’m totally doing it.  It’s right up my thrift loving alley.  Also, Grace, Erica, and Kayla are having another Open to Interpretation partay and I can’t wait to join in on the fun.  And the girls at Fine Linen and Purple are holding a Sunday ‘What I Wore’ link-up that I swear one of these Sundays I’m going to jump on.  As if that’s not enough, Lindsey at The Pleated Poppy has a ‘What I Wore Wednesday’ link-up.  Can you tell I need a million and one excuses to get out of the gray sweatpants and stretchy tanks I’ve been donning for the past hundred days?  Well, I do.  So, look for me next week, the lady with the twins who’s dressed to the nines whilst spending hours feeding and changing diapers and not even leaving the house…all dressed up with nowhere to go…except that’s not me, I’m ‘all dressed up and at home because it’s too much work to leave the house’.  Yeah, that’s me.