Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

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Wall Stenciling Tips & After Photos

My little stenciling project above the chair rail in the office has officially concluded. Woooo to the hooooo! It only took three 4.5 hour installments spread out over four days (so my hand-claws could turn back into hands between sessions). You can read all about my stenciling process here), but in short: it was well worth all that work and a bag of chips. Behold:

Stencil Desk Shot

Globe Corner Side

Stencil Light Switch

Of course since it’s a subtle tone-on-tone effect, the further away that you get the more – well, subtle – it gets. In person when you stand at the doorway to the office you see pretty feathery texture, but of course in photos it’s somehow MUCH harder to capture. Here’s a shot I snapped during the day (ignore the too-dark chairs, non-permanent lamps, bad leaning frames, too short rug, giant placeholder ottoman, random toy basket, lack of window treatments, etc):

Full Office Day

And here’s one at night (again, avoid all the weird we’ll-change-that-later stuff going on). I wish the stencil were more obvious in photos, but in real life, yeah, it’s our favorite thing we’ve done so far. Maybe someday we’ll master the Nikon enough to truly do it justice on film.

Full Office Night

Here’s the much requested shot from the dining room, where in person you can still see a soft & pretty tone-on-tone texture (you’d swear it was wallpaper from this distance). But again, in photos it’s nearly impossible to capture. It’s a nice amount of subtle interest beyond the bold teal built-ins and colorful textiles in the dining room. And hopefully when we hang some art and add window treatments in the office it’ll be a good balance between those two rooms.

From Dining Room

But let’s get closer again. It’s more fun.

Stenciled Corner Room

Even closer…

Stencil Computer Lamp

Oh yeah, that’s the stuff.

Globe Straight On

The writing on the mirrors is our weird to-do list madness. Ignore that too.

But don’t ignore this sweet faced chihuahua who just turned five (five days ago, actually). Burger is always my favorite accessory (tied with the bean of course).

Burger Chair Close

But let’s go back to ignoring stuff. Like the just-for-now chair and too-big ottoman (borrowed from the living room) along with the too small rug. Just figured you guys might appreciate seeing the room from a few different angles (even though the only “finished” things in here are really the light, the desk, and the stencil):

Corner Wide

As for the wall color under the chair rail (Moonshine by Benjamin Moore color matched to Olympic no-VOC paint in satin), we’re toying with the idea of going a smidge darker to ground the stenciled upper part and add a tiny tiny bit of dimension (don’t want too much contrast since that might look crazy from the dining room beyond the built-ins). Of course we’ll keep ya posted if we make any changes! The nice thing about stenciling is that any other regular painting project feels like a cake walk by comparison. Haha. I actually wish you guys could all come over and see it in person – it’s so much better than these photos! Who’s down for a quick visit?

Oh but before I go back to staring at the walls with the same expression that I reserve for Eric from True Blood, let’s get into the paint color details, how we did it, and the budget breakdown. As for those paint details, here you go:

  • Gray paint for stencil: half tint of Moonshine by Benjamin Moore color matched to Olympic no-VOC paint in a satin finish
  • Grellow paint for stencil: Sesame by Benjamin Moore color matched to Olympic no-VOC paint in a semi-gloss finish

Oh and how about a time breakdown? It took 13.5 hours over three evening sessions. Definitely not a quick project, but one that makes you especially proud/excited/relieved/amazed when it’s actually done. As for all of our stenciling tips and techniques, click here for a nice long post all about applying the stencil. Now here’s that budget breakdown for ya:

  • Stencil (from here): $54
  • Martha Stewart Stencil Adhesive (from Michael’s): $2.99 (with 50% off coupon)
  • Foam brushes (from Michael’s): $2.50 (with 50% off coupon)
  • Quart of gray paint* for stencil (half tint of Moonshine from Lowe’s): $11
  • Grellow paint* for stencil: $0 (leftover from kitchen, but would be $3 for a test pot)
  • TOTAL: $70.49

I’ll admit it, it’s definitely not a super cheap-o paint project (which normally run us about $15-30. But to wallpaper the entire room above the chair rail could easily have been five hundred beans or more. And the effect is so amazing that – dare I admit it? – I probably would have paid $150 to get ‘er done. But not a penny more. Haha.

And true to form, we we still have about ten million things on the ol’ to-do list in here (one project at a time = sanity, glorious sanity). So we’ll definitely be tackling these things over time:

  • adding window treatments
  • painting and reupholstering our desk chairs
  • hanging art on the walls (no, the oddly small leaning frames aren’t for keeps)
  • finding a more permanent armchair, ottoman, rug, etc (there are lots of placeholders goin’ on)
  • replacing the lamps (or reupholstering the shades, not sure yet – but we’ll keep you posted)

Anyone else do any stenciling lately? Or make any home office updates in general? Do you have a special expression that you reserve for Eric (or some other celebrity)? Oh yeah, let’s talk about that. Who’s your famous man (or lady) crush? Any Jake Gyllenhaal ladies here? Matt Damon? Team Edward? Team Angie? When I met John he totally had a Britney Spears calendar… and she was wearing leather bodysuits with sneakers. Le yikes.

Psst – You can read all about my stenciling process & the paint colors that I used here (there’s even an application video).

Update – Wanna know where we got something in our house or what paint color we used? Just click on this button: 

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Comments

  2. Lisa says

    The stenciling looks great!

    Oh, and Taye Diggs is still at the top of my list…Josh Holloway is another good option if Taye is busy. I also have a small crush on Jay-Z…although not for his looks really, more for his brain though (love that lyric writing skill).
    However, my heart still skips a beat when I see my hot husband walk through the door!

    He likes all the favorites…Halle Berry, Janet Jackson, Selma Hayek….although, once, in a moment of weakness, he mentioned something about finding the Super Nanny (Jo) kind of cute in a way he couldn’t explain. I thought that was awesome! So, now I say, “Hey, your girlfriend is on TV” when I see that show come on! ;)

    Reply

  3. Make and Do Girl says

    Wow, the stenciling turned out great! I tend to love those tedious but worth it in the end projects the most. Masochistic I guess. I bet that technique would work well on furniture like a table, too. I might have to give it a try!

    Reply

  7. Nic says

    I love every single thing you’re doing with the office. From the DIY desk to the stencils to the chairs — perfection.

    Reply

  10. Jenny says

    Chairs: Would you guys ever think of swapping the white one in the corner with the dark one in your room? Seems like the dark leather could complement the desktop nicely, and I’ve always thought it looked too dark there (I know, it’s your room not mine….). Just curious!

    Reply

  14. Tish says

    I love this so much, we are planning to do the EXACT stencil in our second baby girl’s room in a lighter pink on light pink effect, with a bit of soft blue for the accent(similar to the color box your replies show up in). I have watched your video and read this post a few times to prepare myself and gather supplies.
    I wanted to look at your finished project again to reassure myself that it isn’t too overwhelming or busy, as I want the effect to be calming, soft and beautiful. I feel ready to get painting!
    Thank you for continuing to inspire me! I can’t tell you how many brides-to-be that I have referred to your site for DIY wedding ideas.
    I think you are adorable and clever and I greatly appreciate the real-ness :)

    Reply

  15. Kristel says

    question — how did you deal with the last stencil placed — did yours happen to line up? what’s the trick for dealing with that? i’m ready to do this in my dining room, but am worried about it turning out.

    Reply

  17. Jackie says

    You did a fabulous job!!!!

    After seeing your success, I am going to tackle a stencil project in my kitchen but need serious help with color choices!! I have black kitchen cabinets, light wooden floors, and white countertops. I have LARGE beautiful windows and write trim all around. Other main colors in my house are chocolate brown, black, turquoise, yellow, and orange!

    I don’t have a kitchen table yet, so that leaves
    interesting options, as well.

    Whaddya think? Light/neutral yellow walls with white stencil with a white table and bright colored chairs? Light gray walls with yellow/white stencil? Or something completely different?!

    Thank you :)

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      I think both of the options you listed sound amazing! Probably can’t go wrong with either, so it’s up to you on which one you like better!

      xo,
      s

  18. Cara says

    I’m getting ready to use the same stencil you did for my fireplace wall. Is there a reason you didn’t use a roller? Many of the tutorials use rollers and I was hoping I could as well. Just wondering if you tried it and if it was a mess I can just skip to the brush!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Oh yes, we recently did a stencil for our book and we used a small foam roller and it was awesome. Just load it up really lightly- not too heavy! We heard it could make blotches/bleed if it’s too heavy so that’s why we used a sponge brush thing for this original project, which also worked but took a lot longer!

      xo
      s

  19. Renee' Thompson says

    I recently stumbled across your website accidentally and bought your book on my Nook as well as a hard copy. I love your style.

    I am trying to redecorate/remodel our house of 15 years. We painted one room three times this past month because I can’t seem to find the right shades of blues and greens to coordinate. Anyway, that is not my question. I will have to lose sleep over that dilemma for awhile until I get it.

    We live in Florida and all of our rooms have large white ceiling fans. Is there anything we can do to make the light fixtures on the ceiling fans prettier? I want something that doesn’t scream “white ceiling fan alert”. Can you help?

    Thanks so much!

    Reply

  20. Cassandra says

    Hi there – I cannot believe how amazing the transformation is that you’ve made. I happened upon your book at our local library and am so happy I found it. This is one of the most inspirational sites I’ve seen – I am definitely a follower! Thank you for sharing your expertise and experience.

    Reply

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