Painting Wall Stripes

With plans to build a new and bigger console table in the works (read all about our plans HERE), I cleared the foyer and removed the framed photos from the gallery wall.  What I was left with was a fresh slate ... the long blank foyer wall provided the ideal canvas for painting wide wall stripes!

This wall is 18 feet long and 9 feet high and needed a touch of whimsy and a little visual interest.  Why not stripes?

I began by determining that I wanted to keep the current wall color (Sherwin Williams Softer Tan) as my base coat, and add three wide white stripes, for a total of 7 stripes.

By leaving the very top and bottom stripes (the one along the ceiling and the one along the baseboard) the color of my current wall color, it made this project so much quicker - no cutting in with a second color (white) near the ceiling or along the baseboard.  

I measured from the top of the baseboard to the ceiling (if we had crown molding, I would have measured to just below the crown molding).  This measurement was 105".

I divided 105" by 7 (number of stripes) and got 15".  That gave me the width of each stripe - 15".

I then measured 15" from the ceiling and used a pencil to place marks on the wall about every 3 feet across.  I repeated this process for the rest of the stripes, measuring down from the ceiling in 15" increments.  

When all the stripes were marked with pencil, I outlined every other stripe (the ones I wanted to paint white) with green FrogTape.  To avoid confusion, it helps to place small pieces of tape (I used blue painter's tape) every few feet across on the stripes that will not be painted (the ones that will be left the base color).  

To ensure the FrogTape adhered well to our wall texture, I used a dry sponge to press the tape against the wall.  

Next was the quick and fun part of the project - painting!

I mixed two leftover partial quarts of white paint that I had on hand - one was a satin and the other eggshell.  Fortunately, it dried to an eggshell finish - which matched the base coat.  Happy surprise!

I rolled on two coats of white and immediately removed the FrogTape after painting each stripe.

Was fully prepared to do lots of touch up painting where the paint seeped under the tape, but there was only one small spot that needed touch up.  I honestly was totally amazed that the FrogTape worked so well with textured walls.  

If you want instant impact on a budget, this is a great option.  Hubby and I agreed that if we didn't like the stripes, we would install ship lap.  Fortunately, we're really pleased - will be a great backdrop for the new console table.  

I'm happy to report that the console table for the foyer is now completed and I'll share a post and pics really soon!

Have you tried painting stripes on your wall?

Thank you to Kathryn at The Dedicated House for featuring this post!!!

Your comments are greatly appreciated and I look forward to your thoughts and ideas!  I try to respond to comments via email as soon as I can. If your email address isn't available, I will comment here. Thanks so much for visiting! 

***I was not compensated in any way for this post - simply sharing my personal experience.  :)  ***

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