Throwback Thursday: DIY Horizontal Stripes

Originally posted October 29, 2012

After seeing this pink and white striped wall, I was obsessed with the idea. I figured that the large stripes would be a great way to get pink on the walls without having to commit to all 4 walls. I love me some pink but a whole room of it would be a little overwhelming. After stalking browsing the Pottery Barn website and catalog, I settled on grey and pink.

Like most things I do, I researched the horizontal stripes, to death. A combination of this and this helped me though the project.

I started out painting the entire wall pink because, well, pink is lighter than grey. After letting the pink paint completely dry and settle for a couple of days, I got down to measuring and taping. I did start out with a laser level but the wall was a little bumpy and the laser was only $20. Trust me when I say, this is not the best combination. I ended up just using a box level and drawing lines across the wall with a pencil. Oy. Okay, it DID go pretty quickly and I actually learned how to use a box level! Haha.

The height of the wall, from moulding to ceiling is 93″ so I used the same method as UnskinnyBoppy – 7 stripes, each 13 inches tall, with the bottom one ending up to be 15 inches. Honestly, now that the moulding is on, you cannot tell that it’s larger than the rest. Add some furniture and a cute baby….no one will notice, ever.

I got out my blue painters tape and put it right over my pencil marks. This is where your steady hand and all of your patience come into play! You want to make sure that the tape goes on the outside of the stripes that you’re going to paint with your darker color. That sounds a little confusing. If your stripes are going to be 13″ tall, make sure you’re taping it so that they end up that way. It doesn’t matter if the tape shrinks the stripes that will stay the original color…you aren’t painting those! I also used the painters tape to mark which stripes were NOT going to be painted, just to make it easier for my pregnant brain. Blue tick marks = no grey paint. Got it.

I used a credit card (Sorry, Amex) to smooth out the tape and make sure that it was completely stuck to the wall. The last thing you want is for the paint to bleed through.

THATS IT! PAINT AWAY! If you need two coats (I did), you want to do that as soon as you finish your first coat. Do not let it dry! You risk ripping the paint right off! After your second coat, pull all of that tape right off. Slowwww and steady. It takes an hour to put up and 45 seconds to pull off. It’s heartbreaking!

Now step back and admire your work. Ahhhhhh.

If there was any bleeding or peeling, I would wait until everything is dry before you go in for the touch up. I think that the measuring, lining, taping and painting took about 2.5 hours. The wall is not very big. And if I didn’t have a big belly in the way or Twitter to distract me, I probably could have finished it in under 2. I couldn’t have accomplished anything at all though, without my trusty helper. ;) (The greys are the same color, I swear!)

I’m so excited to get some furniture and linens into the room! My husband just recently put up new trim and closet doors, all in crisp white, which I love. I should also take new photos during the natural daylight. These look so dull and off color. Oh well…..maybe once it’s finished!