Teal Reveal

Standard · Posted by Rubina on November 3, 2011 · 42 Comments 

It’s finally here! After working over the past couple months to finish my living room accent walls (in very, very tiny amounts), I’m so excited to share the final look with all of you. But before I get to the big reveal, here are a few reminders:

1. The blah boring living room I introduced to all of you a few months ago (check out more pictures here)…

2. The color that I was inspired by…

3. And the pattern I chose…

via

Of course, after I had already committed to the project in the blogosphere, I realized I might be in over my head. Although, Cutting Edge Stencils was uber helpful, I learned a lot through trial-and-error. So here’s a quick recap of the process:

1. Painted both walls in 2 coats of metallic gray paint ( I used Martha Stewart Living Metallic Paint in Thundercloud)

Lesson learned: 2 thin coats are key, otherwise you’ll use up your paint supply very quickly since metallic paint has a streaky quality. In this case it didn’t matter because the pattern was going to be stenciled over it.

2. Painted 1 column and 1 row of the stencil pattern in teal paint (I used Behr Premium Plus Paint in Peacock Feather). I painted it using a dense foam roller, which was also from Cutting Edge Stencils.

Lesson learned: This step is extremely important because this “cross” serves as a compass from where the rest of the pattern feathers out. Take your time and make sure that it’s all level. I used Elmer’s Spray Adhesive to keep the edges as tight as possible and only felt the need to re-apply the adhesive after 2 or 3 repeats.

3. Painted all “whole” designs, leaving the edges of the wall.

Lesson learned: You need to be really, really, really patient to tackle a project like this (which I’m not). I rolled over each stencil twice to get the teal opaque enough that the metallic portion didn’t peek through. It took a ton of time but now that my muscles aren’t sore anymore (yup, I’m weak) it was worth the effort!

4. Painted the edges of the walls.

Lesson learned: Be creative. I created my own system as I went – I found it difficult to mold the stencil to fit into the edges of the wall so I hand painted it…probably not the best method for everyone but it was the most efficient for me.

5. Touch ups!

Lesson learned: Embrace imperfection! I ended up buying a small paintbrush, similar in size to an eye shadow brush, and used it to touch up the places where the paint leaked through the stencil lines and a few of the spots where I still could see the metallic paint. The best part about this type of repeating pattern is that it’s super forgiving because the eye follows the pattern and don’t get stuck on any one portion so I was able to keep the “repairs” minimal.

Overall, I was really proud that I took on such a big project for a novice painter and was actually able to finish it (even if it was a couple months longer than it really should have taken). And now…..drum roll please….the final results!

Completing this project has just made me more excited to tackle some of the other living room ReDesign projects I want to tackle, such as:

~ Paint the remaining walls

~ Finish the dresser

~ DIY curtains

But in the meantime, what do you guys think of the final look? Have you used stenciling before?

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Filed under 2011, Painting, Pattern, ReDesign · Tagged with design, interior, living room, paint, pattern, stencil, teal