#1 tip for painting stripes

In the last few weeks, I've learned a thing or two about painting stripes. I'm no expert, but I have developed a strong opinion about what works and what doesn't work.




The kind of tape you use does not matter. I used Frog Tape, supposedly known for preventing seepage. Yeah, right...


#1 Tip for preventing seepage: Seal your tape with paint.



To prevent seepage, seal your tape with the background paint color. I learned about this trick from House Bella. Unfortunately, I didn't know if I should believe this tip or not. Therefore, I sealed the tape on one wall, and I didn't seal the tape on another wall.

Since pictures are worth a thousand walls, let me show you how the trick worked.


The results of tape that had been sealed.


The results of tape that was not sealed.

I learned the hard way. Hopefully, you won't have to. Seal your tape!



***You can see photos of the finished stripes here.

the big reveal :: striped walls

I can't believe I finally get to post pictures of the finished product.





Obviously, this was the wall that took the longest to finish.



I know. It's a *little* busy. And bright. Can you see why I was second-guessing myself when I was midway through the project?!

Keep in mind that the painted wall is where 7's loft bed will go. Therefore, more than half of the wall will be {mostly} covered.



Excuse my crude photoshop skills, but you get the picture.

I admit that I feel better knowing that a lot of the orange will be covered up by a giant loft bed. Regardless, 7 loves it. And that's what counts.

Inspiration for the striped loft wall came from here.



image via Ohdeedoh

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Here's your chance to learn from my mistakes. Read this post to see what my #1 tip is for painting stripes!!

This post has been shared with the March Blog Party at It's Great to be Home.

fingers crossed

Have you ever been in the middle of a project, and you begin to doubt the outcome? You begin to doubt the vision you had in the first place?

I'm in that very spot right now.

I don't want to show photos of the entire poject until it's done, but that above, is a sneak peek.

I've been painting and painting and painting all weekend, and it's still not done. It will be worth it if it turns out nicely.

Keep your fingers crossed.

boy's room :: painted walls

Will I lose your respect if I admit that as I painted and cut in the last few bits of 7's room, I had Dora the Explorer's theme song running through my head?

"I did it, I did it,... da da da do do da do do doo..."



Working a few hours on Saturday, a few more on Sunday, and a few more on Monday, I completely painted 7's room. We choose a nice, neutral greige for the background color. (greige = grey + beige)

The actual color choice is Benjamin Moore's Revere Pewter.

From the masses of orange color swatches, 7 settled on two: Volcanic Blast and Dragon Fire, both by Behr.



Quote from 7:

"They're both cool colors and they both have cool names."

In preparation for painting the stripes, I needed a temporary visual so that I could play with the height and width of the stripes. I went to Michael's and bought two shades of orange paper similar (but not exactly the same) as 7's color choices.

I decided on a 5" width for the center stripe and a 3" width for the outer stripes. After cutting them to size, I taped them to the wall to get a feel for where I wanted them. My first attempt was too high. But since they were just taped in place, it was easy to relocate the stripes to a lower position.



Voila!



It looks good, right?

The stripes --hereafter known as The Speed Stripe-- will go on these two walls.



I have something else planned for the loft bed wall.

Tomorrow, while both kids are in school, I'll use John's laser level to tape off and prep for painting the stripes. However, I won't paint them because 7 is going to be involved in that process. (You know. Ownership and all that.)