Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Stenciled Wall

Our family room is beginning to come together.  I stuck with a very neutral palette... brown sofa, brown and black tables, gray and tan stone fireplace, tan walls, cream curtains, wood floors, etc.  I've tried to add a little green and orange in the pillows and accessories.  

And in fact, if you look around our main floor, it's mostly neutrals:
{looking from family room into kitchen w/no breakfast room furniture}

{bookroom/frontroom}

{dining room}




So to add a little splash of color without going too bold, I decided to paint one of the walls you can see from the family room.  It's about 6 steps down the staircase as you make your way down to the basement.  

First I painted it Behr "Pear Cider".

Then I created a stencil out of an old cereal box.  I personally love the "Moroccan trellis" sort of design.  Originally I wanted curtains with this, but ended up with cheaper "henna" design from Target instead.
Then I began tracing the stencil all over the wall.
I just used a pencil, but that sort of dictated a darker color then.  (Originally I was thinking of painting with a creamy tan.)

I found some leftover charcoal gray paint from our little office nook.

I used a very thin paintbrush from one of those $4.99 packs at Hobby Lobby.
And I began following the pencil lines carefully.  As you can see above, they are not "perfect".  But wait till you see the final product.

And I kept on going....

And going....

And six hours later (yes, six long hours with a few snack and water breaks)....

I now have my punchy orangey patterned wall.  

If you don't want to spend 6 hours doing a 6'x6' wall, then I suggest making a larger pattern.  :)

As you can see, those variations in painting are not noticeable at all after backing up a bit.  

I love it....

Hmmmm..... now to decide WHAT to put on this pattern!!??  

A mirror?

Solid plaques (aka charger-style?)

An empty frame with a simple wreath?

Any ideas?



7 comments:

  1. Amazing work!

    Mrs. Delightful
    www.ourdelightfulhome.blogspot.com

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  2. It's gorgeous! I'm actually impressed it took ONLY 6 hours! Such a big project, but the finished result is great!

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  3. Your wall turned out beautifully! Looks like it took patience, and was worth it!

    <3 Christina
    http://igottacreate.blogspot.com
    Thanks SO much for linking up at the Wildly Original Round Up linky party!

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  4. Wow. Your hard work paid off. That wall looks amazing! Great job.

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  5. Oooh great work! Love the stencil! I was also hoping you wouldn't mind sharing what color paint you used in the dining room, book room/front room. It is so peaceful and elegant.
    Thank you,
    Lesley

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    Replies
    1. Thank you for the compliment! I LOVE that color of brown. It's not too dark, and not too harsh. I use all Behr paints from Home Depot. The living room color is Natural Twine, a swatch by Martha Stewart, matched to Behr. To me, it's a slightly lighter shade than those two rooms, but matches well. The two rooms you mentioned (dining and book rooms) is painted in a Behr color, called Toffee Crunch.

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  6. Christy,
    Yippie! I am off to Home Depot now. ;-)
    I can't tell you how much I appreciate you sharing your colors. I think I have spent a small fortune on paint sample sizes trying every brown I could find, and not getting it just right.

    Thank you so much!
    Lesley

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