DIY Painted Wall Stripes - Poppy's Bedroom

As promised, this post contains all the before and after details for painting the horizontal stripes on the wall in Poppy's bedroom plus a few other bits. I know some of you have emailed me saying you are thinking of having a go, and I encourage you to try because it wasn't hard and the results are well worth it. 

As I have said before, I am very anti-preparation, add to that sloppy and impatient for results, so if I can do something like this (8 months pregnant too!) and manage to persevere - you sure can too. 

BEFORE

The walls were painted a neutral but uninteresting Dulux Antique White USA, which wasn't pretty enough for a little girl's bedroom particularly with the gorgeous colours that featured in the Westbury fabric I chose for the bedhead. It needed something a bit more special.

I was going to paint it pink, but couldn't find one I like that wasn't too sickly or lolly-like. I'm a cool colours person as you probably noted, so these kinds of colours don't appeal to me naturally. I have to find something I really like to be able to live with it.

I had originally wanted to do some panelling a la Mary McDonald and the image below, but couldn't get organised enough to have the timber molding cut and mitred, and it all just became too much hassle in the late stages of pregnancy. Although I do love this look and would love to do it some time somewhere.

Or even with a feature panel of wallpaper as here.

Then I started to see images of stripes in bedrooms and that started to appeal as an easier option and I had intended to do just a feature wall as in the room below.

The roman blind is white with coloured embroidered polka dots, and just didn't stand out enough on the neutral wall. I tried lots of different pink samples, but none of them were right and I was getting fed up. So I thought pale pink stripes would give me the dash of colour I was after, plus an interesting decorative feature and provide the right background for the blind and other accessories to bounce off.

The wooden name plate was also white, and just disappeared on the wall. So that got a makeover too. The furniture I wanted to paint a pretty colour as well, but I'm not sure that's going to stay in her room, and we are using the matching bedside tables in our bedroom, so I was reluctant to paint the mirror and chest pink and then have a change of heart.

PREPARATION

To determine the width of the stripes I played around with some sheets of paper and taped them on the wall to experiment with different widths and work out what looked right. I had a couple of images for inspiration that I was using as a guide. 

I measured the height of the wall and divided it by the width of the stripes to work out how many full width stripes I would get. I didn't want to end up with 4.5 stripes. So I finally settled on 28cm wide stripes because that seemed proportionate to the room size and gave me an even number of stripes and overall balance.

It worked out I would get 4 full width pink stripes and 3.8 white stripes, but that I would put the thinner white stripe at the top so that is just blended into the ceiling and you wouldn't notice. The top stripe is 26cm wide so it's not a huge difference anyway.

I measured the spacing with a long ruler and made pencil dots the length of the wall. Then I used the blue painter's masking tape and laid the tape along the dots, repositioning as needed to get it as accurate and straight as possible.

I ended up painting three coats because the pink was very pale, and I was quite enjoying myself too. 

I set up the fan so that the coats dried quickly (I told you impatient) and I didn't have to wait long. However, I have also read that if you peel the tape off when the paint it still slightly damp, the tape doesn't stick and the edge is likely to be more precise and straight and not peel off with the tape. I let mine dry completely and didn't have any problems with this.

When I had finished this wall, I realised the room looked so much bigger with the horizontal stripes and that the result was effective but not too overbearing. 

So I set about doing the rest of the room. What was originally a two hour job became a day and a half in the end. The measuring and taping was a bit of a pain in the bum I have to admit, but I managed to maintain quality control despite my aching body! 

Fortunately with a pale pink  like this is the stripes aren't exactly 100% even or straight it doesn't really notice, like it would for a darker colour.

Here's the wooden name plate which was originally white, but which I painted in one of the many pink samples I had bought for the wall.

AFTER

Images by Melinda Hartwright

For more before and after photos and complete details of the whole process of renovating and decorating Poppy's bedroom, go to the reveal post I recently did here.  If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at mel@georgicapond.com.au.

PS I will announce the winner of the CUSHION GIVEAWAY on Monday.

PPS THEY'RE BACK!!!!!! Can't wait for the second series to start on Foxtel here. Watch this space!