Walking The Line
Remember this old post about all the fun projects we were daydreaming about taking on with some bonus cash from BHG’s 48-Hour Challenge? Well 20,000+ votes later (!) we didn’t win the 5K (congrats Nicole!), but the good news is that plenty of those projects are still on the agenda. In fact, two of them are already completed! Remember we spruced up our patio a few weeks ago with a DIY firepit and some cheap-o lounge chairs? One down, four to go.
Well, better make that three because we’re back to share the second project that we tackled on the sly. We hinted at wanting to “introduce some layered, textural interest in the half bath” but then decided not to delve into details and surprise you guys instead. Well… surprise!
See that cream on cream texture that’s visible all the way from the front door? Let’s get closer shall we?
Yup, we painted cream on cream horizontal stripes in the half bathroom! It used to be the same tone as the hallways and the adjoining den (Wishes by Glidden) but we decided to amp it up in that jewel box of a bathroom with some lighter stripes to make the room feel a little more expansive (horizontal stripes have a way of creating that effect) and a heckova lot more interesting. Jenn’s Design Star makeover from last summer was actually our inspiration- it just took us twelve months to make it happen. Here’s the bathroom before our little paint intervention:
The entire project took just 4 hours one evening, and the steps were really simple:
Step 1: Divide & Conquer- Measure the full length of your wall and divide that number by twice the number of stripes that you want to have minus one (ex: our ceiling is 98″ tall and we wanted six horizontal stripes so we divided 98 by 11 (6 x 2 = 12 – 1 = 11) to get the thickness of each stripe. Ours came out to about 8.9 inches.
Step 2: Make Your Mark- Use a ruler to mark off every 8.9 inches starting from the floor and working up to the ceiling (we made two small pencil marks on each wall, one on each side).
Step 3: Tape It Off- Grab some blue painter’s tape and connect your pencil markings to create taped off stripes (once the tape is in place rub it a few times so you know that it’s flush with the wall for cleaner lines). The main thing to remember is that the tape should go outside the marks for the stripes you’ll be painting but inside the marks in the negative space that you won’t be painting. This might sound confusing, but just ask yourself if you’re taping off the stripe or the negative space as you go, and make sure the taped stripes are the right distance apart (ours were 8.9 inches) while the tape for the negative spaces is closer (once you remove the tape both areas will be the same width).
Step 4: Roll With It- Grab a good roller and some slightly lighter or darker paint (subtle is key for this look, so just going a shade or two away from the wall color makes for a soft layered look). Then apply two even and thin coats of latex paint between the tape that’s further apart to create your stripes. You’ll also need to use an angled brush to cut in near the base molding and the ceiling.
Step 5: Take It Off, Baby- This is a very very very important step. It’s crucial that you remove every strip of tape as soon as you’re done with your second coat of paint while the paint is still wet (assuming the coverage is good enough that you don’t need a third coat). Waiting to remove the tape until after the paint has fully dried will cause peeling and uneven lines that are less than crisp (which will make you want to cry after all that taping). In short: as soon as your roller is down, start pulling that tape off the wall for a clean stripe that looks seamless and sleek.
There you have it. Horizontal wall stripes. Easy eh? Oh and we used a quart of Valspar’s Honeymilk for the stripes because we actually had a $10-off coupon to Lowe’s. And thanks to that $10 off coupon, this entire project came in at just… (drumroll please)… $2.48. Gotta love that bang-for-your-buck upgrade!
We really like how our crystal tear-drop chandelier (a cheap-o Urban Outfitter’s score from a while back) looks even more dreamy with the soft stripes around it.
And our $9.99 art somehow feels even more spa-like with the tone on tone stripes:
We also feel particularly lucky that our stripes ended up framing our wall sconces perfectly (of course this is something you can ensure by starting your stripes in that area and working up or down to tape off the rest of them so nothing cuts through your lighting at a funny spot).
So there it is. Our under $3 bathroom makeover. We’ve always had a soft spot for stripes (take our blog’s background for example, or our recently striped porch) and I guess we just had to bring ‘em into our tiny half bath to fully embrace the linear love.
What do you guys think? Did any of you take on any cheap-o projects this weekend? Any striping stories of your own? Do tell.
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Comments
The bathroom is lovely! I’d really like to copy this look! I’m sure everyone would…. I was thinking about hiring you to help with my living room update, but then got starting on my own mood board on my computer and decided I’m doing pretty well! So thank you! I just have to find the right shade of gray/blue for the walls, so I’ll go back and look at your paint color post. I am in LOVE with Thomas Paul stuff right now, so I’m trying to incorporate his fabrics (including a Target slipper chair covered in TP fabric). Anyway – LOVE your website. It’s such a joy!
Your bath looks awesome! I have always wanted to give this a try in my half bath too…your photos and step-by-step instructions may have pushed me to give it a go! Was it very difficult to paint behind the toilet and sink area? Keep inmind I have never painted before. Keep up the good work!
Beautiful, I love it! My arms are so sore from painting all weekend adding some curb appeal to our house. And now I have to repaint because I hate the color I painted our door trim.
Great job! Trick I learned when measuring out stripes for painting…white chalk. It will get absorbed by the paint and anything left outside the paint line is easliy brushed off with no damage to the paint job!
Hey Karen,
Luckily we didn’t have a hard time painting behind the toilet or the sink thanks to one of our favorite weapons: a short handled 2″ paint brush that allows us to get into tight spots without a long handle getting in the way. In fact it’s such a helpful tool that we’re planning a post all about it soon. Stay tuned…
xo,
s
These are lovely. Another thing that’s fun (and even more foolproof) is to create stripes with the same color but with different paint finishes. We did this on an accent wall in our last living room by alternating eggshell and high gloss stripes in the same color. It added a nice subtle texture and we didn’t worry as much about the stripes having to be perfectly even or level.
Looks great! Amazing what a little bit of paint will do. This was really the thing to perk up your itty bitty bath!
I love it! So easy and it does so much. I did this cream on cream wide stripe design on my coffee table (two dark cream, one light cream stripes, all lengthwise) a year ago and its just something about that design that makes me swoon!
Fantastic!
I sure would not have the patience to do this even in a powder room. Looks super great!!
That looks fantastic! I once helped a friend do something like that in her half bath…we did the same color of paint but one was high gloss, the other was matte, looked awesome and very subtle (was a dark color). I LOVE that chandelier.
My only weekend project was sitting by the pool drinking beer ;) We had great weather, finally, so I made sure I enjoyed every second of it :)
Hey Emily,
We’re actually huge fans of the using-the-same-paint-in-a-different-finish-to-make-stripes approach, so we’re so glad you mentioned it! Since we were dealing with an already semi-gloss bathroom (and were scared that flat stripes might not weather the hand-washing splashes as well) we opted for tone on tone stripes instead of alternating flat and semi-gloss ones, but it’s definitely another great way to add subtle texture and interest to any room!
xo,
Sherry
Love the new paint job! It really does make the bathroom look polished and finished.
I’m so sorry you guys didn’t win. I think Nicole’s porch was nice, but absolutely loved your porch make-over. Congrats to Nicole, though!
I love your blog! You guys inspired me to buy a desk from Salvation Army and paint it white (Valspar Pale Bloom)
– I only have the coat of the polycrylic to go but it already looks so great and I can’t wait to bring it in from the garage!
I ADORE stripes and our breakfast nook is striped – it’s what sold me on the house we just bought. Good job y’all!
Love it! We are going to use broad stripes in our dining room. The only thing distinguishing the dining room from the rest of the living room is the ceiling. The ceiling in the dining room is normal height, whereas the rest of the living room is about another 6-8 feet higher. But we think that painting the rooms the same color, and then using the stripes (either in a gloss of the same color, or using a shade lighter)in the dining room will be a subtle way of defining the space but keeping the open feel. I can’t wait! And then I’m going to snag a few Lack shelves from Ikea to go in the dining room, similar to yours but I want to put a buffet below. Thanks for all the inspiration! As for projects, I tackled office closet organization/shelf hanging and hanging some ledge shelves in our guest bedroom as well (Thank you to the Ross store that had a set of ledge shelves for $16!! and a set of 5 box office organizers on clearance for $7…so much for just going there for shoes!)
Great paint job guys! We did a very similar striped color palette in our “reading nook” at the top of our steps (only we did vertical). There was some TERRIBLE 70s wood panelling there that was dark and dreary and we used the lines from the panelling as our guide and painted them very similar colors. The result was wonderful and now our reading nook is bright and inviting!
Looks fantastic!!! And you can’t beat that price.
We did a mini-mini-makover this weekend by getting some new seat cushions and centerpiece for our kitchen table.
This turned out BEAUTIFULLY, guys! Great choice! I can’t wait to see which one you tackle next!
What a happy space to see on my screen this morning. :) I have some horizontal stripes planned for a room in my house soon… :)
I love, love, LOVE this look! It adds interest and texture without being too “in your face.” I used the same treatment in my little laundry closet, but with two shades of springy green. I am trying to resist the urge to paint more stripes in my house!
P.S. Who made the layout of your website? I’m interested in something similar (but with gray instead of beige). Did you purchase it or was it free…or did you make it yourselves? :)
Hey Natalie,
The design of our site is a free WordPress template called WP Premium, you can download it here. We then customized all the colors and graphics ourselves. It took a bit of trial and error (plus some knowledge of CSS), so if you’re up to the challenge you could certainly make your gray version. Nicole at Making It Lovely actually uses the same theme too (it’s where we first fell in love with it) so you can see how different it can look with the right customization.
Hope that helps!
-John
It looks terrific, guys!!! A job very well-done! I am trying to figure out if I want to use a horizontal stripe pattern in my dining room–I have pretty high ceilings in there and thought it might help anchor the room. Also, thanks for the painting tips last week! I went by Home Depot yesterday and found some awesome Glidden paint samples. Thanks for sharing!
Blessings,
Kristin
This looks great!
How do you think striped walls would look with patterned or multi-colored tiles on the floor, as opposed to a solid colored floor? Our bathroom has a 3-color tile border around the room. Would you consider doing this technique in your other bathroom, or do you think it would look strange with the patterned tile?
I love the look. Awesome job! We may incorporate something similar in our upstairs bath.
This weekend, we took a major step toward curb appeal by purchasing 10 new shrubs for our dirt patch in front of our house. They aren’t in the ground yet, because we’re hoping to paing the exterior in the next week or so. I can’t wait for it to be done. Our house has been an eyesore from teh outside for two years now.
Hey all,
After seeing it my friend’s powder room, the hubs and I are planning to do the gloss-on-satin same-color vertical stripe in our little half bath off of our master bedroom. We’re thinking a light, dusty blue. But first we have to scrape and wash off all of the evil wallpaper glue left behind by the amazingly awful wallpaper that was in there – yuck!!
Any tips for painting my trim? I’m done painting the walls, and the trim is currently glossy (I do plan to go over it with some sandpaper first), but to complicate things, it’s already peeling in some spots – I think the previous coat of glossy was applied over an even earlier glossy coat with no sanding in between. Not nice to the future young new owners who don’t like the old-fashioned cream color! We’re doing all the trim in a semi-gloss ultra white – it will really pop out from the light grey-ish and light grey-brown walls we just painted! I will be posting pictures eventually.
wow that turned out so well! I love it, and I love your blog! seriously, SO inspiring. Thanks for always working on a budget, it’s encouraging to know you can spruce up your home for little if you’re willing to put in the work.
LOVE IT! It’s so bright and airy and definitely packs a punch. Y’all always have such fun projects up your sleeves.
I’ll be working on my own half-bath project this week, also involving paint – but doing some cool medallion stencils instead of stripes!
Wow! I love love love the paint job. Who knew that something so simple could really transform a room. Great job!
I love how the stripes are visible in the living room and refer to the horizontal lines of your floating shelves and fireplace bricks! Well done!
My livingroom is painted with pale yellow/green (BenMoore 387, Jasper Opal) and soft blue(Sherwin Williams SW6519 Hinting Blue) horizontal stripes, with a BIG stripe of bright orange (Behr230B-5 Indian Paint Brush)going thru it all. I love it, but after spending so much time on your blog, I think I may have to wipe it all out and go neutral. The BEST part about paint! My need to change my environment so much is the EXACT reason I have no tattoos!
PS: I need to know: what paint did you use on your fireplace(s)? I know it’s white, but is it pure white (as in, the ultra white base before any color is added at the paint store), and also what finish is it – semi-gloss? Satin?
Our brick fireplace is already painted, but now that we’ve changed up the walls in our living and dining rooms, it doesn’t work – just the wrong shade of beige. I might paint it one of the wall colors a shade off from the wall behind it, but the white does look good in all your pictures, I just don’t want to paint it with semi-gloss like the trim and have it look too shiny and glaringly white, unless that’s what you guys used and you can vouch that it works. What do you think? The walls are eggshell, but the trim will be semi-gloss ultra white.
I love it! The colors are so calming. Gotta love coupons; it’s amazing how much you can save.
wow! so impressed…ive been wanting to try horizontal stripes too but have been too scared – thanks for the step by step instructions and for only $3.00!
Wow! What an amazing transformation, especially for the price! Cant beat that.
The only project we did this weekend was to string up some outdoor lights on our screened in porch. It was cheap, easy, and it looks great at night!
I really like the stripes in the bathroom!
I’m sorry you didn’t win the BHG challenge… I was rooting for you and did my best to vote daily. I loved your porch makeover (well, I love all your projects!). Thanks so much for this excellent blog and all the great inspiration.
Rebekah- I think if you pick subtle wall stripe colors directly from the tones in your tile they can all work together for a soft and cohesive feeling (just be sure to make the stripes very close in color so it’s not a loud pattern and looks more like a soft texture in the room). Hope it helps!
Meredith- Going over that trim with 100-grit sandpaper before applying two thin and even coats of semi-gloss white paint should have your trim looking fabulous in no time. And as for our fireplaces they’re both painted in flat paint (the one in the den is Glidden’s Water Chestnut which is actually a tan tone that’s a bit darker than the other cream walls in the room, and the one in the living room is a soft grey-white tone (Glidden’s Ruffled Feathers) so the white mantel and trim looks a bit crisper by comparison). Happy painting…
xo,
s
Fantastic job. The stripes really add a sense of whimsy and posh-ness to the space, all at the same time!
Oh, you both probably know already, but while browsing through a Nest gallery, I came across a photo of your living room, it was quite nice to see it! It’s the “5 Secrets to a Fab Living Room” gallery. :)
My heart is racing!! Ya’ll constantly inspire me. I have been planning these exact stripes in my hallway for some time now. I sqeeked when I saw it! I hope to finish my guestroom soon and send you a pic b/c it is inspired by you two! great job!
It looks great guys! Perfect color combo for the small space!
Just another hint for getting clean and crisp lines when doing stripes… If you paint a clear coat over the tape, that keeps color from bleeding at all, as it sometimes does, and when you remove the tape, perfect lines!
The bathroom looks fantastic!
We did vertical stripes below the chair rail in our dining room – painted the whole thing flat blue, taped off, then painted clear gloss over alternate stripes. So, achieved the same tone-on-tone look of the same color in different finishes, but with much less taping!
Wow, this looks wonderful!
My husband and I did vertical stripes in our dining room in a very similar color pallet
My one piece of advice to anyone who is going to try this with light colors–don’t use the blue chalk to make your lines! I was on a ladder (we have 10 foot ceilings) scrubbing the chalk lines for hours! Thankfully, the results made it all worth while!
It came out great…I had a hard time picturing it when you mentioned that you were going to do it but the pictures are amazing.
Oh! I love it! The stripes really look fantastic! This past weekend, we assembled some Ikea furniture, painted our picket fence to match the trim on the house, and added some colorful flower pots to the porch.
I love it! I’m also a fan of stripes. My fiance and I had 2 tones of gray-blue in our room. The bathroom looks amazing and I love the price of the makeover! :)
WOW! That’s a true testament to the power of paint. What an elegant transformation. I’m inspired to stripe something!
Love the stripes!
Also, really like the artwork- I think that may work well in my bathroom as well. Where did you get the frame?
That is gorgeous! I absolutely love it! I’m thinking I might have to do that on one wall in our studio/future nursery! Beautiful! Great job :)
Sherry,
Do you have any tips on how to paint behind the toilet without having to take it out? I always find that difficult and it never comes out well.
Lisa
Sorry I forgot to look on the first page of comments, I see what you did. Thanks!
Hey Nakiya,
The frame is from Ikea (I think they’re around $19 and they accommodate 12 x 12 prints and actually come with that great white mat that you see). Hope it helps!
xo,
s
That looks fantastic! I’m intrigued with the 3 glass vases hanging on the living room wall… I don’t think I’ve ever noticed them before. Are they the CB2 hanging vases? I picked up one (what was I thinking, I need THREE!) over the holidays and just got around to hanging it up. Of course, fresh flowers look great in it, but something dried seems more appropriate since I truthfully don’t have the time or the $ to constantly put in fresh flowers… What dried arrangement do you have in yours?
Hey Amanda,
They are in fact the CB2 hanging teardrop vases and we just have dried grasses in ours since they last forever and look wispy and light. We actually “borrowed” our grass clippings from a giant clump of grass at a movie theater near us (hopefully there’s a park or parking lot that you can raid for a few snips near you- or even something growing in your backyard). Happy hunting…
xo,
s
omg the stripes make a world of a difference! i am so stealing your idea for our tiny half bath in our new house! we got a pale gray-blue paint for that room, and i think an even paler blue stripe would look wonderful!
we decided to start working on our stairs and stair rail in the new house, there was a hideous 80′s style metal stair rail that was unsafe, so we have to replace it to move into our new home, so i have my dad working on that and we pulled up the icky carpet from the stairs and uncovered some good looking wood stairs- which already matches the laminate flooring upstairs perfectly! so thats saving us some $$$! im very happy with what we have found! we also primed all the bedrooms and painted the ceilings… during the week we hope to finish the walls!
thanks for the heads up on the danze faucet (in your what were digging column) its perfect and just what i’ve been wanting, the matching accessories are great too!
LOVE IT!
My husband and I painted horizontal stripes in our daughters room (yellow and white since her gender was a surprise). They are much bolder, but we think its still fun for a kids room. You can see it pretty well in this blog post (http://andbabymakesthreepluspooch.blogspot.com/2009/05/what-no-one-told-me.html) and a little in some of the other pictures that I have posted in other posts.
The taping we the hardest part for us- the building had settled a little so the walls weren’t completely even, but luckily my husband is handy and was able to figure it out. The laser level helped out HUGE for the taping.
LOVE striping the walls. Your bathroom looks even more amazing, if that’s possible. We did vertical stripes in our dining room, but instead of using two colors, we painted the entire room with a flat and then did the stripes (after hours… and hours of leveling and taping) over the flat paint in an eggshell. Gives the very subtle sheen and effect that we were going for.
Btw, completely 200% over-the-top addicted to your blog. Keep it comin’.
No cheap-0 projects, but a new and improved laundry room that my husband built is ready for a nice coat of paint : )
Hi Youngsters,
What a transformation. Of course, I am not surprised because after all it is you guys. I fall in love with your home more and more everyday. You are truly an inspiration.
My addiction to your site is getting completely out of hand. Love, love, love the new bathroom!!
Nothing super exciting here. Finished the dining room table i’ve been refinishing for 3 weeks. LOL.
Painted some siding that needed touched up, and finished repainting the master bedroom grey. YAY!
Where did you find the artwork?! I love it, its very zen-like and calming for the bathroom. I tried to search on allposters.com but had no idea what to put in the search field – rocks? Stone art?
I love the colors you chose. Looks fab! Our entry way was a pale blue matte with gloss stripes of the same color! Love the subtle texture of it!
This looks FANTASTIC! You both did such an amazing job! So swanky and love, LOVE the chandelier. You two rock my socks!!
We just painted stripes in my BFF’s new house this weekend. We used just one color in two finishes (eggshell for the wall and semi gloss for the stripes) it turned out great!
I am just MAD for stripes right now and I absolutely love your idea. I just painted stripes in our mini guest room and I’m already thinking of doing another room like that; maybe the bathroom!
One tip I found somewhere on the internet was to use a clear coat of modge podge over the tape before painting in order to prevent the paint from bleeding under the tape. This works especially well with textured walls that don’t allow the tape to stick evenly.
Again, I think your bathroom looks fabulous!
Love it, youngsters! We are getting ready to move and I’ve been trying to decide which room in the new house to stripe… the half bath may be the winner! In our current house, we have vertical tone-on-tone stripes in the living room (2 shades of a tan/cream color) and we LOVE it. We also did thin vertical stripes behind our built-in shelves and a big square outline above the fireplace. So fun! We have used the blue painter’s tape in the past, which worked okay as long as we took it off at just the right time. This time, we splurged a little and used the green Frog tape and it is amazing! The lines are absolutely perfect- so worth the extra cost!! Anyway, keep up the awesome inspiration! I love your bits about Richmond for those of us who are locals, too.
Hey JM,
Here’s the direct link to the art work for ya: http://www.allposters.com/gallery.asp?startat=/getposter.asp&APNum=2036226&CID=81270310742B4D9694A99B3955423170&PPID=1&search=spa%20bathroom%20olive%20branch&f=t&FindID=0&P=1&PP=9&sortby=PD&cname=&SearchID=
xo,
s
Definitely doing that in my half bath. I had horizontal stripes in my studio in college and I loved them. The trick for me was to use a laser level and do a coat of the other color before you do your accent color. That way if any paint seeps through the tape, it’ll be the wall color. I hope that makes sense! Love your blog!
I absolutely ADORE the color combination of the stripes. For me the hardest part would be picking the right colors to compliment each other. The bathroom looks amazing!
Funny timing – I am hoping to paint stripes in my bathroom as well. I’m not a huge fan of large stripes over the entire wall since it makes the room seem smaller to me(sorry!) so I’m planning on doing a couple of smaller stripes near the ceiling to give the room some height. We’ll see how it works out.
Thank you SO MUCH for your very helpful answer – and for always answering the many questions us readers throw at you! I’m glad that even though you guys are famous, you still have time for the little people ;)
Thanks Sherry! love it! I was never a fan of stripes (I think the headache of planning and taping it all out – ick) until seeing you bathroom makeover. It looks oh so luxe, great job!
I’m new to your blog, but absolutely love it! Ok, wait, let me rephrase that … I’m obsessed! Your taste for design is awesome & definitely gives me some creative ideas as well! :-)
This turned out so great! I have been itching to paint either my entry or bathroom in stripes, but am a bit nervous about the whole taping process. I was originally thinking black or chocolate brown and white, but I really like the idea of two creams like you have done. And if I mess up a bit it won’t be as noticeable! Thanks for the inspiration and tutorial!
Love the stripes! I finished an inexpensive art project at my daughters house this weekend. Created an art gallery using a book of poems. Here’s the link http://pammielou.blogspot.com/
She’s attending Flagler College St. Augustine, Florida and it’s a hit with the college scene! Cheap, easy, trendy!
LOVE IT! So refreshing and chic looking. What a dramatic change for such little money! You guys are good ;)
ps I gave you a little shoutout on my blog; you are my organizational inspirations! http://peckavenue.blogspot.com/2009/06/plan-on-this-cloudy-day-is-to-seriously.html
The stripes are great and the price of the makeover is amazing! Wonderful job! ~~Rhonda :)
I love the color combination of these stripes! I ended up striping our hallway with vertical stripes a few years ago and love it. It was the result of an “oops”! I wanted to paint our hallway the same color as our den since they are adjacent and grabbed the wrong can of paint! I didn’t realize it until it dried so instead I striped with the correct color. I get lots of compliments and LOVE the effect. I hadn’t considered a horizontal stripe in my house but I think I have a wall in mind already…
Love this so, so much! My master bathroom is very purposefully all white, but reading this post makes me think that some subtle stripes might add just the right amount of visual interest to give the space more dimension. Because two of the four walls are taken up entirely by windows and the shower, I’m wondering if you think stripes on two opposite walls would look any less sophisticated than your full-room makeover? And, also, about how much time did you wait in between letting your first coat of stripe paint dry before applying the next and removing the tape?
Thanks for your input and inspiration!
Ahhh, love that! The bathroom looks so fresh and clean. Love the lights too! By the way, I am sure you are aware, but if you are ever looking for a deal on curtains, rugs, lights…come see me at the Shades of Light outlet on Midlothian. I can hook you up, we have great deals all the time. Have you ever been?
Just one more question: does this wordpress template work on blogspot?? I’ve been trying to figure it out but haven’t had any luck yet :/
i have had it in my furture plans to do this in our entry, you inspire me to just get it done already!!
Hey Natalie,
Can’t speak for Blogspot unfortunately, but our guess is that it probably won’t transfer cleanly. Perhaps someone else with more blogspot experience could make a recommendation? Sorry we can’t be of more help.
-John
I love love love the stripes! And would totally do more stripes in our house… but I am certain that either my hubby or I would have to do them on our own… not together. See the story goes that when we first bought our home (a 100+ year old shotgun) we decided to paint stripes in the then diningroom… they are flat/gloss stripes vs. 2 shades… we have 2 sheens. Well I’ll just get to the point… we started working on them, and about an hour later I was sent on my way… to be anywhere but in the house while he finished the stripes… it was frustrating, but overall better for us… lol! We have 2 very different methods of problem solving… makes for some interesting days… lol!
Hey Katrina,
Not only have we been but we’ve actually done a giveaway with your sister store Shades of Light (Devon and Amanda were our contacts- here’s the link). Of course we’ll definitely drop in again one of these days. We haven’t been by in a while and it’s high time we swung through!
xo,
s
Hey Erica,
Good question! We definitely think this look is subtle enough to be applied just to a feature wall or even to two out of four walls in a space if it makes sense in the room. We say go for it! As for how long it took between the first and the second coat, by the time we were done with the first coat we could pretty much start on our second coat since there were six stripes so by the time we finished painting them the first one was already pretty dry. We also didn’t want the paint to set up too much since we wanted to peel off the tape while it was still wet for the freshest and crispest line. Hope it helps. Happy painting!
xo,
s
xo,
Sherry
WOW GUYS!!! this looks absolutely amazing! i’m really impressed that you did this all for under $3! (and i’m super excited that you didn’t make us wait too long for one of the makeovers you mentioned in your post about all the things you would do around the house. i’ve been on the edge of my seat!)
just a tip for anyone else that is doing any taping for painting and wants really clean, perfect paint lines…especially for stripes/or designs: after applying the tape, press down very hard on the edges and then apply a very thin coat of spackle over the seam of the wall and tape. wipe it off with a rag, then paint. peel the tape off while still wet, and voila!! you have a PERFECT paint line every time! it takes a little longer, but if you really want it perfect, that’s the way to go!
I’ve never done stripes before, but have done some blocks of color behind artwork. I’ve found that laying the tape down doesn’t always create a smooth line, even if you rub it down with your nail. I now brush a smooth sealer over the edges of the tape first, let dry, then move forward as described here. Works perfect!!
Man o man. That looks soooo smooth, you guys. Seriously – I absolutely LOVE IT. Instant interest :)
Ummm, that looks amazing. Wow. It changes the look of that bathroom completely, and it looks incredible. I have to say, I’m so bummed y’all didn’t win the contest! It was so close, and you totally had the best project! I would’ve loved to see what you guys could do with an unexpected $5000. Oh well- next time!
Your half bath looks fabulous!!! Good work guys. Can’t wait to check it out in person. :)
I am shocked at how such a simple paint job transforms your bathroom! I love it and it photographs beautifully!! This might be an idea for my boring and white master bath!
I achieved a similar effect using a different sheen of the same color that was on my wall. My wall was flat paint and the stripes were eggshell. It was subtle and beautiful.
Love the stripes. I used stripes like these in my foyer…only they are yellow (to match my sofa) and beige. I think it gave a once blah space more of a wow factor.
Looks amazing! I’m doing the same thing in my half bath thanks to you! Any pointers one tackling the toilet? Meaning, do you paint behind it?
Much LOVE!
Hey Jamie,
We did continue the stripes behind our toilet since we could reach thanks to our short handled angled brush (stay tuned for a post about it soon). It’s our secret to getting into tight spaces. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
STUNNING! :) By the way how do we add the photo to our comments? I remember you said you wanted to put a face to a name….
Hey Gillian,
Here’s a post about getting your pic up with your comment: http://www.younghouselove.com/2009/03/bloggy-bonuses/
xo,
s
Gorgeous! The Husband and I have been thinking about doing something similar in our office, this just might have been the tipping point.
I painted stripes in my son’s room before he was born. I alternated a flat paint and a semi gloss in the same color. The difference between flat and semi gloss is enough to look like two different colors. I have a hard time picking paint colors, so this was my foolproof way to paint stripes without it looking too busy. In fact, it looks so good that I have to fight the urge to paint stripes in every room =)
That looks so swanky! Love it…oh and love that I just picked up that same soap dispenser over the weekend. What great taste we both have, haha.
I love it. I did the same thing in my guest bathroom last summer. But instead of using 2 different colors, I used the same color but with two different finishes (flat and glossy). It’s amazing the difference a finish makes. I made sure the glossy stripe was the one near the sink. It looks great. Subtle, yet fresh. So much better than 1 color.
I love this and it’s making me rethink our idea to paint our downstairs bathroom dark blue. How do you feel about painting small rooms dark colors? I normally love it, but the bathroom is just off our front living room, which is a khaki color, and I don’t know if it’s too much of a jump. I read one of your posts about how your house was a million different colors when you first moved in and it reminded me of our house. It was, literally, everything from bright orange to apple green to mustard yellow. CRAZY! I haven’t gotten to all of the rooms yet, but the ones I have painted are all neutrals…olive branch, buttercream yellow, metropolitan gray. I need to settle on a color for the room off of our family room (the metropolitan gray room), and could see this striped pattern working well there, too.
Oh the stress of picking paint colors!!
Lil Bee,
We’ve recently seen a small navy bathroom and LOVED IT! But you’re right about it being a bit jarring when the other rooms are light and neutral, especially if it’s right off of your front living room. It’s really all about how your house will flow (are there other places that the dark blue color can be repeated, like in pillows in the front living room?). We love the tighter paint palette that we have going on in our house now because everything feels more open and there seems like there’s a method to our paint madness (for example, the blue-gray tone in the bedroom is also repeated in our kitchen) so things feel like they flow. A dark paint color in a small room can really be dramatic and lovely but it’s nice if it’s not a complete departure from the rest of your home’s decor (so bringing that color around in other rooms will make it feel more connected to the rest of the house). Hope it helps!
xo,
s
I so love this…it looks so beachy and light and fresh. Such a simple idea that totally packs a punch. Nice job!
Shery, LOVE the bathroom! What a fantastic job y’all did. I want to steal it in a few months (thinking August) for our bathroom. The only thing is our hallway is white (a very white white) so I’m afraid cream will clash horribly. We have brown tile in the shower, a white waffle knit shower curtain, white medicine cabinets with frosted glass, a white porcelain sink with a dark brown vanity, and our pillows are powder blue. There’s tiny brown, cream, and tan tiles connecting the sink to the wall and I was thinking of pulling colors from there for the stripes (cream and beige, beige and tan…) Should we stay away from the darker colors? Would cream clash our very white hallway (the color is Polar Bear by Behr)? Thanks!
Agh, Sherry, not Shery. The tile in the shower area is actually tan (ish). And I meant our TOWELS are powdery blue. No pillows in our bathroom.
That definitely does help, thank you. And I think I’m going to opt for the light colors. Our upstairs bedrooms are olive and buttercream, and I pulled that together with the curtain in our bathroom, which has both those colors and then some. But I really want our downstairs to flow, like you’re saying. So light it is! I’ll send you some before-and-afters when we finally complete the project. THANK YOU!!
Thank you so much for the inspiration! I just finished my half bath this week and I am loving the results.
http://richpageant.typepad.com/paulawessells/
Do you guys recommend a certain paint finish for the walls throughout the house or different? I had heard semi-gloss for bathrooms, but I’m regretting that now…I had heard sation throughout other rooms but I like the eggshell I’ve also tried…
Hey Julie,
We use semi-gloss in our kitchen and bathrooms and flat paint everywhere else (except for semi-gloss on the trim throughout the house). It’s definitely the most durable and wipe-able paint for bathrooms and kitchens, although eggshell also works better than flat (with a bit less durability and wipe-ability). Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Sooo cute! hey do you think it would be too overwhelming to do this in my hallway and entryway? It would be visible thoughout the entire house. Hmmmm.
Hey Libby,
Not at all, as long as you keep the colors close enough it will be subtle and chic. Stay tuned for pics from a reader who striped her bedroom…
xo,
s
Hi guys! I must say, you have great taste. As I am in the middle of redecorating the bedrooms in our house, we have been having quite a bit of issues as we have plaster walls with a good deal of texture. I had originally planned on doing stripes but now seeing how messy our lines are between the walls and trim, I’m not so sure that it will work well. Any ideas as to how to get the clean lines on textured walls?
Thanks!!!
Liston
Hey Liston,
I would just suggest really running your finger along your painters tape extremely firmly a few times before painting. It will help the tape stick to every peak and valley on your textured walls so the line looks as crisp and can be. Also choosing colors that are subtle will help it to look a lot less imperfect (for example, you can use the same color paint in two different finishes (like flat and semi-gloss) for a stunning result. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Hi Guys,
I love love what you’ve done-i’m actually thinking of doing that this weekend. I’ve just got one question, my whole room needs a lick of paint so, should i paint it first then do the stripes with another color the following day?
H.
Hey Houda,
I would actually paint it first and then wait about five days just to be sure the paint has fully cured (to avoid ripping off some of that fresh paint when you remove the painter’s tape after completing the stripes). I’d even wait a bit longer if it’s particularly humid in your area. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
It looks great!! I’ve been considering doing something like this in my full bath. I’m just not sure if it is too modern for a bungalow.
I have a tip to add! We just did a complete paint job, including stripes, in our new baby room. We painted the whole room green, but wanted pink stripes. Well, on some advice from the Home Depot lady, here’s what we did.
– Paint whole room. (and let dry, maybe a day)
– Tape off the stripes as you said above.
– Go BACK over the blue painter’s tape with green paint, sealing the tape and making ANY “bleeding” happen as green-on-green.
– Paint pink stripes and peel.
I would’ve never thought of the “sealing the tape” part, but now it makes perfect sense. Otherwise we sometimes get spotty edges. From now on we’re doing that whenever possible when using paint, including white along ceilings or trim (if we’re too lazy to cut in neatly).
Hope that helps someone!
I love this bathroom with the stripes! I plan on recreating this look in our entryway, however I’m unable to find the chandelier at Urban Outfitters anymore, have you guys seen anything similar to the one you guys have. I love the look of it, very beautiful but not over the top!
Hmm, maybe try ebay? It was called the “teardrop chandelier” so I’d start out searching that term. You could also search “Urban Outfitters chandelier” to see if the exact one is listed. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Hi! I just found your blog the other day and I have to say I LOVE what you guys have done with your place and I really really love the stripes. I was looking for painting ideas for an accent wall (well two accent walls) in my apartment.
We have an angled wall that our tv sits in front of in the lliving room and the dining room has two walls and is open to the living room. Do you think it would look weird to do this on two accent walls? I wanted something kind of subtle that wouldn’t overwhelm our place (it’s only 1000 sqft) but still wanted to kind of have a little bit of real, grown up design.
Also, the walls have kind of a texture to them…Would it be weird to do stripes over the texture?
I appreciate your advice and love the blog :D
Hey Kate,
So glad you found us! I think if you used super subtle paint colors it wouldn’t be weird at all to have the stripes on two accent walls! You could even use the same paint color in a semi-gloss and a flat finish so you get a striped sheen effect that’s really posh. As for doing the striping treatment on walls with a bit of texture, scroll back up through the comments to find a super helpful tip from one of our readers about using clear caulk. It’s the secret to a perfectly straight line on a textured surface! Hope it helps.
xo,
s
Just realized you don’t have any window treatments in your bathrooms in these pictures…..do you still have nothing on your windows?? I’m just trying to find something, since we have very close neighbors and I was looking at your bathrooms for ideas….thanks!
Good question! We have enough privacy to avoid window treatments altogether, but for privacy we like a chic frosted look (and you can pick up frosting film at places like Home Depot on a dime). Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Hi Sherry,
Gotta a question – I’m ready to paint my upstairs bathroom and because it’s the “shower” area, I am planning to paint it with a semi-gloss or kitchen/bath paint color. However, there is an accent wall that I’d like to stripe but it’s an eggshell finish. In my readings, I have learned that you should paint with a flat paint first, then stripe with a different finish to avoid cracking. What is your thought?
Nope! We striped with semi-gloss right over semi-gloss and it’s great, so feel free to go with that eggshell. It should be fab. Good luck!
xo,
s
Sherry and John,
I’m tackling your inspirational stripes project in my teeny-tiny half-bath this week. I have a quick question: Since it’s so important to remove the tape while the paint is still wet, do you wait for the first coat of stripe paint to fully dry before painting a second? I don’t want to risk any fuzzy edges after all that taping! :) Thanks!
Hey Gail,
We definitely didn’t stand around at all between coats, but we found by the time we worked our way up the wall with stripes the bottom ones were ready for their second coat (not totally dry of course but dry enough for the second coat). It seemed to work well in our tiny back so here’s hoping it’s the perfect timing for yours too! Good luck!
xo,
s
We’re about to try your stripe technique on our half-bath. We’re curious what color you painted your ceiling? White or the lighter of your two stripe colors?
Thanks!
Hey Kevin,
We were pretty simple and just left the ceiling plain white, but Sherry actually wants to go back in and repaint the ceiling the color of the lighter stripe – that way it’s not three different paint colors in there, just two. So it sounds like you may be one step ahead of us. Good luck with your stripe painting!
-John
Quick question.. my hubs and I just started this project in our master bath. We have taped everything off but are beginning to feel that the stripes in our somewhat large bath are making it seems smaller. Do you feel the layout of the bathroom may actually make a difference with this painting style? Our bathroom is long (I figured it would make it longer). Thanks, Nicole
Hey Nicole,
As long as the colors of the stripes are relatively low contrast it should really be more of a soft texture than something that makes the room feel smaller. In fact, experts day that subtle horizontal stripes can actually make a room feel wider and more expansive. In our bathroom, it’s a tiny room and we knew nothing would really make it look giant so we liked the soft interest and layered texture that the cream on cream stripes added. And of course when you tape things off it looks crazy because the tape is so high contrast and stripey. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Hey guys,
I have a weird question for ya(well, weird to me). So my husband comes home the other day and tells me that one of his co-workers (who also just recently bought a house) told him: “You need to lightly sand your walls before you do any painting or else the paint won’t stick”. He also said: “Don’t buy any of that crappy paint from Home Depot or Lowe’s, and especially NOT Behr- it sucks”. Is this guy totally bonkers or is he giving my hubby sound home-renovating advice? To me, this sounds crazy, and I told my husband as much! I’ve never heard of anyone sanding their walls before painting! As for Behr paint, I’ve heard/read nothing but rave reviews. Also, if you don’t get paint from Home Depot or Lowe’s, where else would you go to get it? Please help!
(OK, so maybe that was more than one question, but I’m desperate for answers!)
Hey Elle S,
With all due respect to your husband’s co-worker, he does sound a bit bonkers. We’ve heard about lightly wiping your walls with a damp cloth (to remove dust and cobwebs) or priming to prep them to be painted (especially if you’re going from a dark to a light color), but never sanding. That sounds like crazy talk to us. And we’ve painted our entire house with paints from Lowe’s and Home Depot, so we certainly don’t agree with his other assessment. True, paints from private retailers like Sherwin Williams or Benjamin Moore can have better coverage than the Behr’s, Valspars and Gliddens out there but we’ve always been happy using a little bit more elbow grease to get a good coat over dishing out more cash. Hope that helps counteract some of the other advice you’ve gotten.
-John
Hi John,
Thank you SO much for clearing that up for me! I knew I could count on you and Sherry to straighten that out. Any advice on how to get my husband to stop listening to his co-workers and to start trusting his wife when it comes to home renovating? ;-)
Is there a width that you wouldn’t get larger than or smaller than for a stripe? (I figured that’s the easier way to answer the question, can you ever have too many or too few stripes on a wall).
Hey Lisa,
Good question! I would say that unless you have a very tall ceiling I would keep your stripes smaller than 24″ each. And even in a room with regular height ceilings, I would keep them larger than about 6″. That way there won’t be too few or too many to get that simple clean-lined layered and textured look. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
I’m toying around with the idea of painting stripes in our spare bathroom, but would like to use a light gray color. Do you have any suggestions of paint brand/color. Thanks!
Hey Christina,
Hmm, you might want to try Benjamin Moore’s Horizon along with a cool white color (the soft gray and the white will look subtle and sophisticated together). Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Hey guys,
I really liked the horizontal stripes especially the colors,i want to do it in my half bath,but teh problem is my bathroom has a vaulted ceiling and it has many odd angles.So I was wondering if it would still be ok to do the stripes on teh lateral walls while leaving te ceiling with all the angles white?Also there is no ventilation and hence no light at all in my bathroon,but i really loved the colors u used,so whta do you think i can do about it?Can I go ahead n do the same color palette?
I would really appreciate ur advice.i need some serious design advice here.
Cheers:-)
Rohitha
Hey Rohitha,
Doing the stripes on the lateral walls and leaving the angled ceiling white sounds like the perfect solution! And since the colors of the stripes are so soft and subtle they won’t darken your room so it will look great. Just be sure to use semi-gloss paint so it’s wipe-able since you don’t have ventilation in there (you’ll want walls tht you can scrub down). Hope it helps!
xo,
s
I have painted stripes in the past, and am considering it
again in my guest bathroom (a full bath). I had been
advised that after you tape it off you should paint your
lighter wall color first along the edge of the paint to
seal it off and prevent bleeding through. Then paint the
darker color. Seems to work and make a straighter line.
My biggest problem is picking colors for fear they will
be trendy.
Hey Holly,
We have also heard about the paint-the-wall-color-against-the-tape-first trick so it definitely should work out for you. And as for picking colors, good luck! We think subtle differences in tone are a bit less in-your-face so they might last a bit longer without looking trendy. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
This is fabulous! Amazing to think someone could get such a high-end look with so little cash outlay. Great imagination, great idea, great work! …. and you two must either have a fine eye or the patience of the gods to get that taping lined up so nice and straight. Absolutely lovely!
Hey Angela,
We love a short-handled angled brush like this for trim, cutting in, and tight spots like behind the toilet. Worked like a charm!
xo,
s
Hello! I love this look. I recently bought a condo and would like to try this out. You used Honeymilk for the lighter stripes but what color did you use for the darker stripes? Thanks!
The darker stripes were just the original wall color: Wishes by Glidden. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
FANTABULOUS! We just bought our first house as well and are so excited to try this in our mouse-sized 1/2 bath! Thanks for the great tips!
I love the stripes in the bathroom! I think we might like to try that too in our hall bathroom. Currently it is an old lady faux finish yellow. Would these stripes work with textured walls? The edges always seen to look frayed. Any ideas?
Hey Michelle,
This question has actually come up quite a bit already so if you scroll back through the comments you can find many solutions (we like the idea of using clear caulk once you tape the stripes to keep the paint from bleeding since the wall is textured- then you just paint and pull the tape). Feel free to scroll back for more details and solutions. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
okay so I’m doing my room in a light blue “sea breeze” and a tan. I want my room to look as large as possible though. Should I do 2 walls blue and 2 walls tan? Or stripes? or blue on top and tan on bottom?
Hey Sara,
If you want the room to look super huge the best way to accomplish that is to paint all the walls one color (and use the other color as an accent for curtains, pillows, art, etc) so the corners fall away and the room feels more expansive (painting two walls one color and two the other color will have the opposite effect and will in effect split the room in half). You could also do stripes which really make a room feel wide and spacious but keeping the colors extremely close (tone on tone, like tan with cream or light blue with an even lighter blue) will have more of that effect (higher contrast stripes don’t feel as breezy and open). Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Sherry-
I’d like to paint our master bathroom with stripes like these and I plan on painting the master bedroom (which is attached) a blue-greyish color. Two questions for you: Do you think beadboarding and the stripes would be too busy? Do you think the stripes (using similar colors as yours) would clash with the blue walls in the master? I’ve also thought about doing blue stripes in the bathroom to coordinate with the blue in the master, but would that be too matchy-matchy in your opinion? (Ok that’s three questions. :) )
Good news! The colors we used for the stripes are so neutral and subtle that they’ll look great with your bedroom’s blue-gray walls and also with the beadboarding in the bathroom. You could also do blue stripes to tie everything together but they might be too high contrast (and therefore too busy) for the beadboard walls. They also might feel a bit too matchy-matchy so something lighter and more neutral might be the way to go for a nice visual break along with some openness in the smaller room (the bathroom). Hope it helps!
xo,
s
hi john & sherry!
thank you so much for this idea. i have to admit i still have paint on my hands and in my hair as i type this – i just finished painting a wall in our master bedroom with subtle light green stripes based on this post. i loved the pics of your bathroom and you totally inspired me! the paint hasn’t yet dried, nothing is hung on the wall, and the furniture’s not returned yet, but i had to write and thank you… i actually teared-up a little (i know, gag) after i pulled the tape off – i’ve never had such a pretty room before! i’d love to send a pic (how do i do that?).
liz (& james) tsang
Thanks so much for the sweet note Liz! You just made our day. We’re so glad your stripe project came out so well and we can’t wait to see it! On our sidebar you’ll see a button that says “Click here to contact the Youngsters” and that’ll take you to a page that shows you how to email us! Hope it helps. And congrats again on your pretty striped master bedroom wall!
xo,
s
Hey guys,
I have a couple of questions. I would like to do vertical stripes in my bed room. Should I follow the same steps on this post?
I will be doing black and white stripes on one of my walls. Similar to the master bedroom in this post
http://alkemie.blogspot.com/2008/07/study-in-black-white-one-designers-home.html
Hey Elizabeth,
Yup, the steps above should work exactly the same way for vertical stripes. Hope it helps! Love that inspiration pic!
xo,
s
I painted vertical stripes in my dining room last year. Instead of using blue painters tape to tape off the stripes, I used a product called Frog Tape. It’s green . . appropriately. The paint guy at Home Depot recommended it to me, and it was the best painting decision I ever made. It was a bit more expensive than blue painters tape, but it completely prevented any bleeding on my bumpy plaster walls. Well worth the cost.
Love your blog!
Great tip! Thanks so much for sharing. We’ll definitely have to give frog tape a try.
xo,
s
I just finished copying your half-bath and I love it! Thanks again for the inspiration and step-by-step directions!
http://thesouthernroyalty.blogspot.com/2010/02/half-bath-beauty.html
I love, love this idea – but I wanted to throw out a word of caution… Our walls are slightly textured, and the medium hold blue painters tape didn’t hold up. Instead of clean lines, I ended up with messy lines. It’s obvious it bled through where the texture was a little bit higher/bumpier. I honestly think this only works if you have non-textured walls. Thanks so much for all the tips, I just wanted to share my experience!
Hey Heather,
We’ve heard that a bead of paintable caulk along the tape (after you put it up but before you paint) can keep things from bleeding. Just wait for the caulk to dry and paint away. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
My home is super small at 906sqft, which means my bedrooms are super small! My question is, we have a lot of furniture in our bedroom due to a recent addition of our little boy and I’m looking for a way to make the room look larger with paint. We just purchased a new duvet cover and I would like to paint our walls based on the colors in the duvet. It is mostly a soft green color with a large white block in the middle which is outlined in an espresso brown. Should I just paint one wall a dark color (like the wall our bed sits on) or try the stripes?
You can’t go wrong either way so it comes down to personal preference. If you like subtle tone on tone spaces go for soft stripes and if you like a bold focal point go for the accent wall. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
I have a question about measuring the wall from top to bottom – did you include the floor and ceiling moulding when measuring the total wall length (i.e. literally measure from the floor to the ceiling)? If so, when measuring for the individual stripes, did you begin measuring from the actual floor?
Your small bathroom with the stripes is lovely – I hope it looks as nice in ours!
Nope, we just measured the wall area so we didn’t include baseboards, trim, molding, etc. Just the paintable area. You could include the trim if you wanted to though- it’s totally a personal preference thing. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Beautiful bathroom, I am inspired to do my powder room like this. One question for you, did you move your sink before you painted or did you use the special roller brush that you mentioned you used to get behind the toilet? Thanks much!
Hey Erin,
Nope, we didn’t remove the toilet or the sink, we just used the short handled brush (it’s not a roller, just a simple cheap-o brush from Sherwin William’s that we talked about here). Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Hi Sherry,
I recently picked up two lighting scones (the same ones you have in this bathroom) at the Goodwill for $3.00 a piece last week. However, they didn’t come with any hardware pieces for attaching them to the wall. Do you have any ideas or suggestions for what I may be able to use to attach them to our wall? Also, how did you hid the plug-in cords?
Thank you.
Reagan (Lexington, KY)
Sadly, we have no idea what specific parts you need (since every light fixture calls for different things). And in our case we didn’t hide the plug in cords, we purchased hardwired sconces so they never plugged in- but there may be a way to convert yours if they’re plug ins and you’d prefer them to be hardwired. We would definitely recommend bringing them to a hardware store or a specialty lighting shop to see what they recommend. And congrats on finding such a deal!
xo,
s
Hi
I love the look of your bathroom. What did you do to make sure the stripes were straight. Did you use a level?
Thank you,
Beth
Using a level would definitely work but we just used a ruler as we mentioned and measured between each stripe at the same increments to keep things even. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
A bit of a delayed question on this one… but I’ve got one for you! A few people mentioned that after they finish the tape job, they paint over the tape with the original color to “seal” the lines. Once that is dry, then they paint with the second color, and since it is sealed there are no drips through the tape. If I do that though, I would obviously have to wait until that “sealing” paint of the original color is dry before I use the second color… but you say to peel the painter’s tape off as soon as you’re done painting to avoid peeling. Well, is that sealing layer going to peel? Sorry if that’s hard to understand, but I’m dying to paint stripes in my new house and would really like to know your thoughts on that. Thanks!
Nope, if you decide to go that route it should be great since others have used that method with success. We’re crossing our fingers for you! We just prefer not to let the paint sit on the tape for too long to keep it from peeling off less cleanly, but if you try that alternate approach you’d obviously have to wait for things to dry. And we’d love to hear how it goes! There’s definitely more than one way to skin a cat (gross expression but so true). Good luck!
xo,
s
So I LOVED your striped bathroom that I had my hubby copy it in our half bath as well and it turned out GREAT! I LOVE LOVE LOVE it! The only thing I am struggling with now (warning…this sounds really stupid) is finding a extra tp holder that isn’t ugly since we have a pedistal sink like yall do. Any suggestions? Where did you get yours?
We actually got both of our tp holders (in our half bath and full bath) from Target. They’re affordable and they have a surprising variety. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Just completed this project last night (taping urgh!) and it looks fantastic. I can confirm that the painting-over-the-tape-with-the-original-wall-color thing works and creates perfect, crisp lines. For tape-purchase planning, I used close to two rolls of 1 1/2″ blue tape to stripe my half-bath. Also, if anyone needs a color match for the Valspar Honeymilk paint but only has a Home Depot in town, Glidden Swiss Coffee is the pretty much the same color.
I *love* your website and this is a great tutorial! I have a very small bathroom that I’m trying to spruce up – and I am so inspired! I may stop by the paint store on my way home from work! Thanks much!
Love it! Did you use the same finish for each paint or did you go with a semi-gloss for your strips?
We used the same finish (semi-gloss since it’s a bathroom) but we could have switched that up for fun too. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
I love love love your entire house, but these stripped walls have been my all time favorite since you did them. I am planning to do the same thing in my first floor full bath, however they are an awful shade of blue right now so I need to paint on the base color as well. How long after painting the walls do I have to wait before we can tape and paint the delicious stripes??
Thank you so much for sharing your life with us, and always know that you will have our blessing. I have a question related to the shower .
Why did you decide to go with a curtain ??
Did you ever considered a shower door instead ?
We are planing to redo our bathroom this summer and I am not so sure if I would like to keep the door , as I am working extra hard now to keep it clean. lol
Thank you again .
Hey Andela
We actually did consider hanging a seamless glass shower door instead of a curtain to allow the space to feel even bigger and more open, but with a little one on the way we thought something softer and less shatter-prone might be a smarter choice for our growing family. Plus it was easy on the budget!
xo,
s
Hi! I love this project and am in the middle of attempting this in our half bath. Do you have any advice on how to create those perfect lines? With an uneven ceiling and an uneven floor, this is proving to be quite the project! My tape keeps bowing in the middle to boot!
Help!
Just follow the steps in this tutorial above. The use of a level will really help you get the tape placed in the correct spot (no bowing at all) or you can use a ruler to make a bunch of subtle pencil marks that you can follow around the room so the tape is sure to be super straight. Good luck!
xo,
s
Hi! I love this idea and I want to paint tonal stripes in our new apartment. We have a long narrow entrance hallway that was painted by the building super, a warm buttery neutral color.
I have in mind to go a shade or two lighter, but I can’t get the name or info on the original paint color. I’m wondering if I take a photo of the original color on the wall, how accurate that’ll show up, and in which light to take the photo? the natural light or the hallway light?
Do you know of a safe nice light neutral option that goes great with any color I could look for?
Thanks! love your blog! I’m getting married next week and am more excited about decorating our first home together than anything!
Hey Katy,
Here’s what you can do- visit the paint store and grab as many swatches in a similar color to the wall as possible. Then bring them home and hold them all up against your wall- you’re sure to find at least one that’s extremely similar- and it’ll be a closer match than trying to take a photo of the wall and match it to that. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Thank you! This makes so much more obvious sense! Who has the best paint prices that you have found? I live in NYC, so my first thoughts are Home Depot and Benjamin Moore. Other than that I just stroll pass expensive hardware stores that may have a small paint display.
Thanks again!
We love Behr (from Home Depot) because it’s great quality paint for a good price. Benjamin Moore’s great too, but a bit more pricey. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
How long do you wait before you apply the second coat? I’m a beginner painter and recently took on the project of painting our office desk. Maybe wall stripes could be next…
Waiting a few hours should be good. You want each coat to thoroughy dry so it has a nice fully cured result at the end.
xo,
s
Weird question for you. Do you have a trash can in both bathrooms? If so, what do you use? Thanks!
A while back at Target we picked up two chic little clear actylic cylinder trash cans. They almost look like stout cylindrical vases but they’re not breakable like glass. Love them!
xo,
s
Thanks! Now an even weirder question. What do you do about a toilet brush? Why is it that necessities have to be such eyesores?
We have a small white one in one of those cases that can stand on the floor. We keep it tucked behind our white toilet on the far side so it’s virtually invisible unless you know it’s there (the fact that they’re both white helps it blend). Oh and we only own one even though we have two bathrooms so we don’t have to store two. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Do you think it would be too much if I did the same horizontal stripes in my half bath that also has 4ft beadboard? I wasn’t sure if it would be too crazy having vertical beadboard and then horizontal painted stripes. The beadboard is white and I would do the stripes in a subtle beige and creamy white.
We would probably just stripe the wall above the beadboard and keep the beadboard one of the two colors (maybe the lighter one so it feels “built-in.” Hope it helps!
xo,
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Love the stripes (and the stripe-making tutorial!) I’ve been dying to try it in my half-bath.
One question… our half-bath is currently blue, so I’ll need to repaint before striping (I’ll probably do colors similiar to yours, since the rest of my house is in various shades of khaki.) Well, the previous owners got paint on the ceiling too. Should I paint the ceiling the khaki or creamy-white in the stripes, or just plain white like the rest of the ceilings? And if I went with one of the stripe colors, would you start your stripes at the top with the same color or the opposite? I have no crown molding.
p.s. I’m working on a plywood “counter” right now! Love your ideas and stealing every one of them. I’m hooked on the Bower’s blog too… you creative girls. : )
We would paint the ceiling the lighter color of the stripes so it feels cohesive and airy. As for starting your stripes at the top, we would start with with opposite color (the darker one) for that true striped effect and some nice contrast. Hope it helps!
xo,
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I love every room in your house! My husband and I got married last February and purchased our first home in June of the same year. I wish I would of visited your site before I started decorating! I would of coppied a lot of what you did. I was going to try to do what you did in your bathroom to ours. One question:
We have vertical stripped wainscot up now do you think it would look weird having vertical wainscot and horizontal stripes? Thanks!
If you paint the wainscot the color of the lighter stripe (a super soft off-white or cream tone) and then continue the horizontal stripes on the wall above it, everything should look lovely and seamless. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
I did this in one of my bathrooms, and it turned out great! Measuring and drawing the lines was the hardest part, but after I got out a really long level and used it and light pencil marks, I got everything spot on. Everyone who sees it absolutely LOVES it. I tell them that if *I* can do it, anyone can do it. Thanks for this! I’d love to see how to do a diamond pattern on an accent wall. :)
I saw this a couple yrs ago in a magazine and did it on an accent wall in my living room vertically in dark purple with toast colored walls all around it. It looks very classy! It was also very easy and inexpensive. A great way to dress up a wall. I am a handywoman in Denver and my customers found your blog and want this in a small room. Very nice!
So this is my first every YHL inspired project. I’m about to attempt to paint my powder room. It’s medium sized for a powder room, but has no natural light/windows. Do you think it will work in a small space like that? Right now it’s asparagas green, so I’m not worried about trying something different, I’m just worried that it will over-power the space. Any suggestions??
Thanks for all that you guys do!!!
As long as you keep the colors pretty light and keep the contrast to a minimum (nothing too bold, like black and white stripes) it should turn out really well! Good luck with everything!
xo,
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What is the width of each stripe? I don’t want too many stripes because I’m afraid it will get too busy. Also I have to two shelves in my bathroom that are approx. 13 inches apart and I was going to have my stripes width be 8 or 9 inches. I cannot figure out a way to get each shelf centered on a stripe…any suggestions?? I am so particular I dont think I will like it otherwise.
Hey Meagan,
The width of our stripes is listed in Step 1 (11 inches). As for how to get your shelves centered, if they’re 13″ apart we’re thinking your stripes would have to be 13″ apart so the shelf could rest in the middle of each stripe. So just divide the height of your wall by 13 to see how many stripes you should have at 13″ apart. Hope it helps and good luck!
xo,
s
Hello,
I really LOVE this site, and hope you keep posting more “how to’s”. I want to try to copy this bathroom, as its sooo different and refreshing. Can you tell me what colors you used for the stripes? Thank you.
We used Wishes by Glidden and Valspar’s Honeymilk for the stripes. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
I was browsing to find out how to do the horizontal stripe in my bathroom and found your lovely bathroom. The rooom I want to do is very small with only a toilet and tub and connected to the dressing area where the sinks are. I bought a turquoise fabric shower curtain with two wide chocolate and off-white horizontal stripes that I want to duplicate on the wall. My husband thinks I am crazy so I guess I will have to do the work myself.
I love it! It looks awesome- great job!