Dude, stencils are no joke. But I did it! I bit the bullet and ordered the stencil that John and I have been pining after for the past month (mentioned here a few weeks back). We loved the idea of adding some subtle tone on tone detailing above the chair rail in our office (we didn’t want anything with too much contrast since it’ll compete with the dark teal built-ins and the fun curtains in the nearby dining room). So we settled on a softer gray tone with a tiny pop of color (leftover grellow paint from the adjoining kitchen). At 54 honking dollars it was hardly a drop in the bucket, but let me tell you, this stencil is hardcore. First of all, it’s made of super durable plastic, so I don’t have to worry that it will rip or crease while I’m taping it, untaping it, and bending it manhandling it to get into the corner crevices (I’m pretty sure I would have trashed a thinner stencil after one wall, just because it’s kind of a more rigorous application process than I expected). And let’s just talk about how big it is. It’s over two feet tall and almost two feet wide, so it helps to make things go faster since you don’t have to reposition it every three seconds like you would with something smaller.
And yes, this is quite an evil face I’m making. No idea why. I remember saying something like “make sure I don’t look naked” when John snapped this, but had no idea I was giving off such an I’m-the-female-Hannibal-Lecter vibe.
Another way that I’m rationalizing my purchase is that we only spent $6.30 on cabinets for the built-ins and $27 to build a 13 foot counter, so maybe it’s time we splurged in the office. Haha. I also figure any type of wallpaper (even the cheap stuff at Lowe’s and Home Depot) would be way more than $54 for the entire room above the chair rail, so there ya go.
I’ve actually never done a giant repeating stencil like this on a wall (we did stencil the floor of our first house’s sunroom) so here’s where I’ll get to the keeping it real part: stenciling is haaard. I’m not gonna lie, my arms were cramping after about an hour and it took four and a half solid hours (from 8pm to twelve thirty in the morning) just to almost finish one wall (out of the four that I want to do). But in the spirit of sharing things real-time as we go, I couldn’t wait to share the in-progress madness. Here’s a close up:
And here’s one side of the wall that I almost completed (I still have to do those last 6″ above the chair rail). Oh but ignore the weird dark and light vertical shadows on the wall (couldn’t wait for the lighting to be better – too impatient and excited to share, haha).
As for my method, here’s a little breakdown of what seemed to work for me:
1. I prepped the room by clearing it and tossing a drop cloth over the desk so we wouldn’t get paint splatters on it.
2. I used Martha Stewart Craft Stencil Adhesive Spray from Michael’s (purchased with a 40% coupon of course) to spray the back of the stencil before taping it up on the wall with painters tape. This helped the middle parts of the stencil stay close to the wall and not bend out for a nice crisp line. I probably repositioned the stencil two or three times before re-spraying it (when I noticed it holding less firmly to the wall I just took it down and sprayed it and taped it back up for the next application). Oh and you’ll want to use a large piece of cardboard or drop cloth to spray the back of your stencil so you don’t get stick stuff all over the floor).
3. As for where to start, John held the stencil up in the top middle of the wall so we could center the pattern and work out from there in all directions.
4. I also used delicate surface frog tape for holding the stencil up at the top, bottom, and sides (we already had it on hand and I didn’t want to tear off fresh paint as I moved it around the room so it seemed to do the trick).
5. I used small foam craft brushes (also from Michael’s). They were basically dowels with flat foam tips.
6. As for how I loaded my little foam brushes, I just dipped them in the paint (more details on the paint colors later) and dabbed the brush around the lip of the plate to remove excess before tapping it against the wall to apply the stencil.
7. I always tapped the wall at a right angle with a not-to-gloppy foam brush for a nice clean edge (so the paint wouldn’t slip or drip behind the stencil and smear around).
8. If I feared that a little bit of paint somehow got behind the stencil, before repositioning it on the wall for the next application I would lay it on my drop cloth on the floor (face down) and wipe the back with a dry folded paper towel to remove the excess paint. Then I would respray my stencil adhesive and stick it back on the wall for the next application.
9. The way that the stencil is applied means that there are repeats. So you position it right over the last 3″ that you previously stenciled and work your way across the wall that way. I didn’t wait for the paint to dry before moving the stencil (that would have probably taken five million hours), so I just took my time applying the paint so nothing got behind the stencil and then matched up the stencil carefully for the repeat and continued on. Since there was no wet paint on the back of the stencil, it was fine to be pressed against the 3″ of wall that was already done, and it didn’t look any different than the non-overlapped part. I wonder if the application of paint was so thin that it was drying really quickly so it didn’t make a difference…
10. The corners were the hardest part. To get the stencil to lay flat against the wall in the corner so you can cram your brush into the small little stencil openings was sort of impossible to get perfect. But I did learn that this stencil is extreeeeemely forgiving (probably because it’s a more organic pattern than a regularly spaced geometric one, which would probably make any inconsistencies a lot more obvious). So when I didn’t quite get deep into all the corners, once it dried it was somehow not obvious at all (a stenciling miracle?). Of course I’m not exactly a corner expert because I’ve only attempted one of them, so as I go around the rest of the room maybe I’ll have more tips.
After about three hours I was here on the first wall:
And after 4.5 hours I had one wall almost all done (sorry for the terrible picture, I was sort of losing it at this point).
So although I wasn’t completely done with that wall, I decided that 12:31 am meant it was time to put the foam brush down and throw in the towel for the night. And do some finger stretching (I seriously had cramped up hand-claws).
Oh and as for the colors, here you go:
- Walls: Moonshine by Benjamin Moore (color matched to Olympic No-VOC paint in a satin finish)
- Main stencil color: I just asked the paint guys to give me a half-tint of the wall color (also color matched to Olympic no-VOC paint in a satin finish). This means they just add half as much tint to the white base as the original formula calls for, so you end up with a half-as-intense tone-on-tone effect.
- Grellow stencil flower accent color: Leftover wall paint from the kitchen, which is Sesame by Benjamin Moore (color matched to Olympic no-VOC paint in semi-gloss). You actually can’t tell the difference in finish unless the light hits it just right from the side and the grellow sort of looks iridescent, which is actually awesome. Yay for happy accidents.
I also made a video to hopefully help demonstrate the foam brush prepping and actual stenciling part of the process (including a quick demo on corner stenciling):
So that’s where I am with the stencil. One wall-above-the-chair-rail almost done, three more to go. I’m planning to tackle another 4+ hours tonight and hopefully can fit in one more session this week (my goal is to be done by Thursday or Friday, soreness permitting). It’s definitely one of those projects that you just need to force yourself to complete as fast as possible – because as soon as you start all you want is to get to the point where you can let out a huge sigh and say “so glad that’s over!”
But so far I have to admit that it’s totally worth the trouble. We’re loving the effect (it’s sort of like subtle modern wallpaper, not too in your face but not too tame and unnoticeable either). It’s sort of the perfect amount of “ooh, look at that” without being too competey and chaotic with the adjoined dining room. And John and I both have said the following sentence about ten times so far: “the pop of color totally makes the entire thing.” So might I recommend a splash of grellow (or any color you love actually) to take something that’s gray on gray to the next (still-kinda-subtle) level?
Ok, now I have to hear from you guys. Have you ever stenciled something, be it an accent wall, piece of furniture, or entire room? Do you have any secrets you’d like to share? How long did it take? Is four and a half hours for the top half of one 13 foot wall (with a big ol’ window in the middle) about right? I might just be moving at a turtle-like pace. Haha. Just too nervous about getting paint all down the back of my stencil if I go any faster. Anyway, hopefully I’ll be back with finished pictures (and maybe a bulging right bicept from dabbing away) by Thursday or Friday. Until then, picture me standing on a chair at 11pm wearing my inside out painting clothes and listening to shows on Hulu (I tried radio, but somehow hearing Community and Parks & Rec play in the background kept my spirits up a little more).
Psst- I’m over on BabyCenter chatting about my favorite kids clothing store and how I save money when it comes to shopping for Clara’s clothes & shoes. Did I mention that I snagged 47 cent shoes on my latest mission? Excited doesn’t even begin to describe it. Check it out here.
Christine says
Wow. When I first saw the picture of your stenciled wall, I thought it was an “inspiration pic,” not the real deal. It looks amazing! I never thought I’d ever consider something like this but you’ve got me rethinking that now…
Chris says
I love the stencil on the wall . I love the way you tie in the colors from the other rooms and have the vision to mix the patterns. I love reading your blog and I hope one day it will inspire me to try the projects I think about but don’t have the courage to try . Keep it up! You guys are an inspiration.
Naomi says
The stencil looks amazing! I really love the tone on tone with the hint of colour. It’s very fresh and modern looking.
Also…..OOO! SNUGGLE PUPPY OF MINE! Everything about you is especially fine!
So cute seeing Clara holding it. It’s one of my daughter’s favourite books along with Barnyard Dance, to which she makes me sing it all country style to her. Which ain’t pretty to hear, but she loves it.
YoungHouseLove says
Haha- that’s totally a favorite in our house. I’ll have to try it with a country twang. Haha.
xo,
s
CourtneyOutLoud says
I have done a stencil in my own home albeit only one wall.
http://courtneyoutloud.wordpress.com/2010/07/27/amazing-what-a-little-paint-can-do/
However, I found that rather than using a brush, a mini-roller saved my life! It is the same method of getting the roller really dry and rolling it on over the stencil and then using a stencil brush for the accent colors. It went WAY faster. But I am loving yours!!!
YoungHouseLove says
Amazing!!
xo,
s
Eileen says
Once more with feeling: The pop of color totally makes the entire thing!
It looks amazing, good luck with the rest of the room!
Lindsay says
This is stunning!!
Lindsay says
That looks terrific!! Now I’m wondering what I’m going to stencil… Last time I stenciled I stayed up late listening to a talk show all about aliens and weird phenomenons. So I rushed through feeling spooked. It looked terrible! Next time I’ll listen to something happier.
liz says
Wow! That is amazing! I am loving that look. I can’t wait to see the room.
Nikki says
this is so lovely! can’t wait to see the view from the dining room. :)
Suzannah says
LOVE IT!! I picked out a wallpaper with a similar style, and one wall was going to cost me close to $500 and that didn’t include the cost of paste, tools, etc.
This is a much better route all around! Looks great!
Saleha says
It looks awesome!!
Ashley says
Oh my gosh, I LOVE it!!! It looks fantastic. Now, this might be a dumb question, but when you stencil a whole room like this, do you ever put up anything else on the walls? You know, framed photos or art or anything? Or would that make it look too busy?
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yeah, we’re definitely planning to layer in some art and probably will rehang the white mirror that we had on the wall above the file cabinet. I think as long as it doesn’t compete/look too crazy the layered look is nice. We’re just going to treat it like subtle wallpaper.
xo,
s
Ashley Reid says
Wow, that’s looking great Sherry! Question: I’m thinking a stencil might add a nice touch to my dining room, but I don’t want to do the whole room. How do you think it would look if I just stenciled a portion of each wall, say down the center and out maybe a foot out on either side?
YoungHouseLove says
I’ve definitely seen accent walls or even accent stripes done with stencils. They look awesome! Maybe check out pinterest or google to see what you find?
xo,
s
Dana says
OMG! I’m obsessed with this. The subtle color with the stencil pattern is perfect. Great job, Petersiks!
Amy L. says
Love it!
Chris says
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BURGER!!!!!!!!
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks! You remembered. Shucks.
-Burger
Elizabeth says
That looks so lovely. I love the little bit of yellow. cant wait to see the whole room!!!
Melanie @ Mailbox Journey says
that looks AMAZING!
CherylM. says
Fabulous dahling fabulous!!
I don’t envy you and your aching arms. It look wonderful. Keep up the excellent work!
Brianna says
Wow! Awesome job guys!! I think you’ve just given me some new inspiration. :)
RebeccaNYC says
Wow, that looks great. Back in the day (late 80’s, early 90’s?) stenciling was ALL THE RAGE and my sister and I went stencil crazy in her house. But we just did boarders, not whole walls. When they were eventually painted over years later, we mourned all that hard work.
Marie says
I’ve never stenciled anything, but after seeing how nice this looks I’m seriously inspired!! It looks great!
Amy says
That is truly lovely! Splurge or no, it looks like very expensive, very tasteful wallpaper – not that *that* is what you were going for, but I do love it! I especially like that you broke from other projects and did a pattern that was more delicate and intricate than geographic. I might just have to try this myself!
Laura (Blogging Over Thyme) says
That intense picture of you, Sherry, reminds me of Natalie Portman in Black Swan–especially with the camisole, looks like a leotard, ha!
You must have SO much patience to do this–and I totally agree that once you start, I’d rather kill myself and get it over quickly than drag out the process. That’s how I felt just painting my bedroom and that’s not nearly as complicated as this. You’re always so glad when its over and its always ‘worth it’ in the end though! :)
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, you’re the fourth person to say that! I guess I was channeling my inner pissed off ballerina. Haha.
xo,
s
Darcy says
Holy COW! That looks AHHHH-MAZING!!! When you showed us that inspiration pic a few weeks ago, I thought it was beautiful, but somehow it looks even BETTER in your house (I think it must be the pop of Grellow)!!!!! It looks soo fantastic!!
I can’t wait to see it all complete and the pictures taken from the dining room so we can see it all together!!
GREAT JOB, Sherry!!!
CherylM. says
Oh, and Clara seems to be looking at you as though to say … you’ve got to be kidding… Who’s going to do all that work??
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, she’s lucky I didn’t try to recruit her at the end of the night. I was delirious!
xo,
s
Pam says
OMG. WOW. Just wow. it is already looking sooooooooo amazing!! Great job Sherry!! Can’t wait to see the finished pictures of the office (well still progress but finished with this project ;) )
Kara says
Ok, let me tell you that I wasn’t sold on the stenciling in Clara’s closet (PLEASE remember that our opinions don’t matter as long as YOU TWO are happy!!!!!!!!!) but this stencil in your office is amazing!!! Looks great! :)
Kim says
I love this! I don’t know if I have the patience to do it, but I’m inspired!
Kiran @ KiranTarun.com says
Awesome work with the stenciling. I am tempted to try it out soon. Hopefully the Husband would get on board with it :D
Olivia says
I have a brick fireplace that is in DIRE need of repainting and updating. Right now it’s painted this peach color (yuck!). I wonder if painting it white to match the trim in the house and then using a stencil to paint a soft pattern over the face of the brick would look okay? Hmm…maybe something to look into. Thanks for inspiring me!
Skye @ Neathering Our Fest says
WOW! This is beautiful! I love the pattern and the colors you chose! I think it is brilliant! :) I have never stenciled anything besides the top of a filing cabinet (http://www.neatheringourfest.com/2011/02/before-and-after-filing-cabinet.html) and that took about ten minutes.. I can’t wait to see it all finished and put together. It is amazeballs! :)
YoungHouseLove says
Pretty! Love the detail on the top!
xo,
s
Kate says
That looks absolutely gorgeous! Congratulations, and I can’t wait to see the finished product!
leah says
Love the stencil & colors you chose SO much, it looks beyond beautiful in there. But I just gotta ask because I’ve been wondering for ages, why are you guys keeping that chair rail up in there? Maybe it’s just me but it looks a wee bit dining room-ish circa 1990’s. But perhaps your poor hands just can’t fathom the idea of stenciling everything below it either. :) Just curious. Thanks.
YoungHouseLove says
We generally welcome any and all architecture in rooms that are otherwise very basic boxes (we don’t have arches or tall ceilings or peaks or any other special architectural details). So we’re down with the chair rail and beams when they’re already around – just because they can give some nice dimension. And the rail is certainly handy for cutting half of the work of stenciling since I don’t have to go below it! Haha. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
cc says
Ooh… this is gonna be good! Can’t wait to see the final product. I think any project involving paint is only fun at the beginning and after it’s over. Hang in there!
Crystal says
That looks amazing! Now, I need to find something to stencil.
Meaghan says
I remember one time, years ago, when my mom stenciled e-v-e-r-y border of our home…my dad was away on a business trip :) Thankfully he was really easy going and thought the purple and pink flowers were lovely.
Your stencil is beautiful and I think it really makes the office a stylish place to spend most of your time. With art hanging on the desk wall, it will break it up a bit too. Very chic!
Jenni says
Wow, that looks amazing! This is one of my new favorite projects!! I think your rocker (one of my other favorite projects) will look sooo good in this room. If that were my office, I would never want to leave, haha! Anyways, thanks for sharing your progress so far, it’s looking stellar already!
P.S. I’m glad I’m not the only one that listens to TV sometimes when I’m painting (or crafting). When I was painting all of the really gross trim in my bedroom and office, I started with radio and podcasts, but ended up giving into some of my favorite movies and a few episodes of Glee (for the music:)–it seemed to help so much!
jess says
This looks ah-maze-iiing! Great job, Sherry! I agree, it goes look like a modern wallpaper. I would have given up by now, props for your determination!!!!
elaine says
Awesome! gorgeous! Breathtaking. GREAT work. Love it :)
KarenH says
God bless you for not using wall paper or borders or any such thing. Bless you, bless you, bless you. I am on “Room #1” of “Removing the Wallpaper Border From Every Room in the House.”
And while it’s likely that I have violated the TOS of this blog, once I got all the old paint (which failed when I removed the wallpaper border) scraped off the walls, I hired a guy to prime, skim coat, patch, reprime and paint the room. In penance, I handwashed the globe from the light fixture in there. That counts, right? ;)
I really REALLY love how subtle yet striking your stencil job is. Very nice. And if it’s still around when you’re ready to move to House #3, if buyers don’t like it, it will be easy/peasy to paint over.
Candice says
Holy wow that wall is gorgeous! I’ve never stenciled a wall, but I did try (key word) to stencil a table once and paint got EVERYWHERE. So I feel your oh-crap-is-paint-smearing-on-the-back-of-the-stencil pain. Good luck and keep on keepin’ on, it looks great!
Meredith says
This looks absolutely smashing! I’m tempted to take a stab at this myself. How inclined would you be to recommend this project to a rookie painter? ,) I’ve only painted trim work and some chairs- thanks to your informative furniture painting process, of course. Thanks!
YoungHouseLove says
I think with the right foam brushes and after following the little video tips I give anyone would be ok to do this! I’m definitely a novice stenciler and it kind of became second nature after a few hours. The main hard part is just fatigue/indurance. So breaking it up into a few 4 hour stints might help instead of trying to do it all in one day or weekend!
xo,
s
Mallory says
WOW! That was my first thought when I saw this post.
That wall looks amazing!
I am sure when all of your hard work is done, this is something that will bring you and John happiness and pride every time you are in your office, for years to come.
Love you guys!
(P.S. First time poster, I had to come out of lurkdom for this post. Again, amazing!)
Renee says
It looks fabulous!
Yes, stenciling is a LOT of work. Years ago I stenciled a border in my 6 x 6 laundry room and I thought I was gonna DIE. It seemed like it took forever. It was a multiple color, multiple templates, pattern. It was a two-toned colored ribbon with pink and blue flowers and greenery. (It was the 80’s…) But I had a really cute laundry room!
I just painted the laundry room in my new house and I was thinking it was looking a little boring…I think I might try stenciling again.
Barbara says
Sooo elegant. I love it but I will never copy you. I once stenciled the risers on our staircase. I used an artist’s brush to clean up any smudges. I probably had a similar expression on my face until I was done. It is really a tedious process.
Stephanie says
It looks great! I love the yellow accent and can’t wait to see the finished product with the desk put back in order!
I used a stencil in my sons room, at 8.5 months pregnant standing on a chair, it turned out great though, a light brown on a sand colored wall.
http://www.etsy.com/listing/61691142/wall-stencil-tree-branch-with-song-birds?ref=sr_gallery_25&ga_search_submit=&ga_search_query=branch+stencil&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_ship_to=US&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_page=2&ga_search_type=all&ga_facet=
That is the stencil, not his room though.
YoungHouseLove says
Such a cute stencil!
xo,
s
Jane says
wow… Gorgeous stencil! You are an artist!
So beautiful, so beautiful….
Brandi says
it looks fantastic so far and i can’t wait to see the rest of it done!
i tried stenciling fabric a few weeks ago. i had dreams of making stenciled curtains and decided to give it a shot on just plain white before ruining the curtains i bought. it definitely did not turn out as magnificent as your walls are and i had a claw too!
Aimee@ the Functional Space says
Beautiful!! As it’s been said many times already that pop of grellow really makes it! I have had a stencil/handpainted project on the list for the (thankfully, very small) upstairs hall for a long time. I can’t seem to commit to a pattern. Thank you, thank you for re-confirming for me that I need to get on it!! Very inspiring.