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.
Shelley says
Love the soft yellow accent in the pattern. It’s turning out fantastic!
Dani S. says
I’m honestly surprised you guys didn’t try to spray paint the stencils on :)
YoungHouseLove says
Hahah, I guess even I have my limits.
xo,
s
Mary@The Good Life says
Sending sympathy your way! It is such hard work. I did a room makeover yeeeaaars ago for my little sis, who at the time was going to start her… junior? year in HS. We repainted the whole room and did an accent wall with big thick vertical stripes and metallic fleur-de-lis stamps (I used a sponge that I cut). That is way easier than what you’re doing and it was hard. I think it took us, something like 20 hours? We had to paint all the baseboards, too. Whine. I hated the work. HATED it. But the end result was nothing short of fabulous and it lives on in legend (now that she is, ya know, 23). I am so blown away by how great it looks!! You must be, too. Thank goodness, that beautiful grellow pop is probably just enough to keep you truckin’ through it. I loveit loveit loveit. It makes me want to do it and thats NOT COOL, I don’t want to have crampy claw hands!! Ugh.
alison says
I love it!
Danielle says
It looks amazing! I seem to say that a lot in your comments, but it’s true. I especially love the pop of pale yellow. Gorgeous.
As for my stenciling, I don’t think I’ve attempted anything since my early crafting days (aka, when I was a teenager). I think I mostly stenciled muslin – but I can’t remember at all what I did with it. Er – maybe ‘framed’ it with an embroidery hoop?? Oh the crafting shame!
Molly K. says
I am bookmarking this right now! We just bought a stencil for our bathroom. Kind of doing a similar gray on gray feel only our walls are a lighter gray and we’re stenciling over with a semi gloss darker gray so that it’s a pretty subtle effect (hopefully). I’m so scared to start this project! Your tips are helping me get ready to tackle it though. Thank you for being honest about the difficulty because now I think I’ll wait until I can devote some serious hours to it. I’d also be interested to hear how easy it is to pick up where you left off when you tackle wall 2. Our stencil came with some smaller cuts. A line at the top for near the ceilings and a single cut of the patter for getting into tight areas. Our pattern is more geometric though and also not cheap. This is the one we bought – http://pinterest.com/pin/191782906/
I will have my painful stencil claw fingers crossed for the both of us! :)
YoungHouseLove says
Such a pretty stencil!
xo,
s
Lauren says
I seriously LOVE IT!! Wooowww!! Gorgeous!
Kim says
Didn’t think I would like stencils, but this is beautiful! Very elegant!
Kathy says
Sherry,
Absolutely gorgeous!
Susan says
This looks awesome! amazing! beautiful!
Tanya Quinlan says
Looks great! I can’t wait to see the whole thing, especially from the dining room view.
My only stencil experience was when my sister painted two of her bedroom walls to look like exposed brick. We didn’t actually use a stencil but there was a whole lot of measuring and taping going on. I thought it was so cool at the time…but thinking back on it now, fake looking bricks probably just looked strange.
Paige @ Final Clothes-Out says
I think this is tied with the frame wall for my favorite part of your new house. Major props, $herdog!
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks Paige! Holla!
xo,
$
Julie says
That looks so great! I love the stencil and the colors! My husband and I are in a rented apartment right now, but this makes me dream of the day when we own a home and can do whatever we want! Keep on keepin on, Sherry! It will be worth it in the end! :)
sara says
WOW! Looks awesome!!!
Pam the Goatherd says
That.is.GORGEOUS!
Jen @ The Decor Scene says
Gorgeous! Gorgeous! Gorgeous!!! I love how it’s turning out. The stencil is going to play really well with your dining room & kitchen. Love it! Great instructions too. Thanks for sharing. :)
{love+cupcakes} says
That looks amazing! I love this idea. I’m so terrified to even put nails in my walls but I think I’m inspired. I mean, I can just paint over it right?
Melissa says
THAT LOOKS AMAZING!!!!! I love it!! So glad you added the pop of color! It will tie everything in so well!
jessica says
I have used the exact same kind of stencil to do my dining room wall. http://fieldguidetoawelllivedlife.blogspot.com/2011/09/stencils-ahoy.html
It takes forrrrever. And it hurts. I can’t even imagine doing a whole room! But….it’s totally worth it.
YoungHouseLove says
Pretty!
xo,
s
Paula says
First of all your stencil is GORGEOUS!!! I have done a lot of stenciling back in the ’90’s. Mostly just borders, cuz that was the “thing” to do back in them days!! For as much area and as big of a stencil you are working with I think your making decent time. I love that pop of grellow! Jon should treat you to a hand message when your done :p
La Terra c. says
Thanks for the reality check. I have toyed with the idea of stenciling for a while. Your wall looks amazing.
Marie says
Beautiful as usual, so unique I love the pop of color. Have you considered using a narrow foam roller? Cutting Edge Stencils shows their stencil how to using a roller. If you use frog tape to cover the accent section you can roll on the main color and go back to accent after it dries. They don’t cost much and it may save you the carpal tunnel syndrome later.
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks for the tip! I was just too scared for it to get behind it (the site I ordered the stencil recommended the dab at a 90 degree angle method with a brush, so we went for that).
xo,
s
Vanessa says
Stenciled wall = beautiful.
That come hither look you are giving me = a little akward.
Seriously, it looks amazing and you rshould be super proud to say “Yeah, I did that.” Very cool.
PS – Is Clara holding “Snuggle Puppy” by Sandra Boynton? Yeah, that book is a favorite in our house too.
YoungHouseLove says
Haha- yes! Such a fun book.
xo,
s
Christin says
It looks FABULOUS!!!
Amy G. says
You’ve already heard it a bunch, but it looks so great and I am in LOVE with it! Great job!
Carley says
I would LOVE to stencil our bathroom, but we’re currently renting until we’re more sure of the husband’s permanent work location…and I’ve already put way too much work into my boys bedrooms LOL That stencil is Ahhhhh-mazing though, I see ways of further driving my husband into insanity with more projects in my future…though IMO sanity is waaaay overrated. Maybe that’s why we get along so well…
Abigail says
i’ve never stenciled anything but, dude, you’ve made me want to give it a go! it’s such a great renters solution for big style that is easy to make disappear (paint over it) and an investment that could be used over and over. bravo!!
kendra says
I have not stenciled, but I have painted over wall stenciling done by previous homeowners. One caution, keep that paint application light. Otherwise, it is subtly textured and impossible to paint over without having to sand down the entire wall. It was a such a mess!
windylou says
My stencil wall is about to be painted over. It didn’t turn out half as well as yours has. I attempted a dark over light design, but I think I am going to paint the whole wall dark and do a light colored stencil…this time with more patience and more leveling..
Kate S. says
Wow, it looks great! I didn’t think I was a fan of stencils, but that one is striking!
Autumn says
I’m starting my new stencil project tomorrow.. Doing the detail on a piece of furniture, hopefully mine will look as good as yours! http://autumnmaeblog.blogspot.com/2011/09/nightstand-re-fab-part-two.html
Jennifer says
I’ve got a great tip! Teach John to stencil! He’s a handy sort of guy! :)
heather s. says
I’ve been contemplating stenciling one wall of my bedroom but don’t want to shell out the cash for a large stencil. Maybe someday…
Your wall looks great – can’t wait to see the finished room!
Courtney Foster-Donahue says
Honestly, I was a bit nervous when I saw the stencil BEFORE it had been painted on the wall, I’m sure partially because of your evil face :) However, I LOOOVVEEEE the tone on tone (it matches the background pattern of this blog!) and I love the occasional pops of yellow. Gorgeous! I wonder what it would like if the iridescent effect was enhanced by actually using a subtle metallic paint?
YoungHouseLove says
I think that would have looked so pretty! Since the room was once a dining room (and still has a chandelier and chair rail) I worried that metallic paint would look a little too “formal dining room-ish” s I skipped it. But it would be so pretty in an actual dining room (or bedroom or bathroom actually)!
xo
s
Cameron says
That looks incredible!!! Awesome, awesome choice. It will totally be worth the pain!!
Melissa says
Lol that picture could almost pass for one of those stand in front of x ray machines. That is your insides, Sherry! Haha!
YoungHouseLove says
Haha.
xo,
s
Shannon says
That looks so beautiful! What a great stencil! (Love that Clara’s reading Snuggle Puppy, by the way. Sandra Boynton is the best!)
YoungHouseLove says
Agreed. The best!
xo,
s
Alison says
Very nice. What a great detail. You may have been able to roll that and save your poor hands and with a brush put in the grellow. Why not try it. You may be done alot faster. One of those skinny rollers. Great stencil choice. Will you do all the walls? Or just over the desk? On another note, you sure don’t require much sleep do you? You sure are worker bees. Impressive really.
YoungHouseLove says
Yup, I’m doing all the walls above the chair rail. As for not using a roller, I just followed the recommended method from the site where I got the stencil since I wanted a nice crisp outcome (so far I haven’t had to do any touch ups, which is kind of amazing- so maybe slow and steady works?).
xo,
s
Julia says
That looks awesome! Definitely drool-worthy. Can’t wait to see the completely finished project :)
Rachael says
LOVE IT! I have never stenciled anything before but now I’m getting a hankering to stencil anything and everything I can get my hands on. The wall looks amazing, what a great look!
Zoë says
That looks amazing! I love gray, white and yellow (or should I say, grellow?) together. And the design is divine!!
We tried to stencil the nursery several years ago, and it was a disaster. The paint ran underneath the stencil so we didn’t have crisp edges. I think the plastic we used was too thick (we made our own stencils) and I don’t think we used a sponge brush either. I was surprised because we had great success stenciling multi-sized circles in our BFF’s nursery (she was on bedrest while expecting her twin boys – it was the least we could do). We ended up with a different color scheme in our nursery that we love, but I might not give up on stenciling. You have inspired me to maybe try again some day.
Colleen says
I LOVE this. I really think it’s my favorite project you guys have done to date, and I love everything you do!! It totally makes the room – it’s so sophisticated but subtle and I am so excited to try it in our house!! (Not the actual process itself, but the finished product will be nice)! :)
Amanda says
Ahh! Sherry! I think this is my favorite thing I’ve ever seen you guys do. It’s gorgeous. Fabulous. The prettiest thing I’ve ever seen. :D I can’t wait to get out of an apartment so I can do some serious entryway stenciling (or one wall stenciling) (or above the chair rail stenciling). Thanks for being such an inspiration!
anne says
WOW! Amazing job!
Warren says
Depending on your X-acto wielding skills you could make *disposable* copies of the stencil by tracing sections onto thinner material so you can more easily fit them into corners or around obstacles.
If the sections in question are easy enough to paint by hand with a small brush you could just trace them in with pencil.
YoungHouseLove says
Oh that’s really smart! Might take a while but definitely could get you that added accuracy!
xo,
s
Jamie says
Totally worth the 54 smackers and the crippled hands. It looks AMAZING!!!!
Amanda says
Love the stenciling!!! And thanks for the tip on the half-tone paint (we’re going to do our half bath in vertical stripes – tone on tone – and I was kind of nervous about finding two that would together).
Happy Birthday to Burger too!!
Rachel @ We Heart Minnesota says
That is Awesome! I love the two color approach. I didn’t even think of that. We feel your stenciling pain… we just finished stenciling the ceiling of our sun porch and it was no easy task.
http://weheartminnesota.com/2011/09/19/stenciled-ceiling-is-in-the-house/
After having to paint over one large section that went a little out of caddywampus it took a total of 3 solid days to complete it. We are loving it now though as I’m sure you are loving yours.
YoungHouseLove says
So amazing!!!!
xo,
s
Donna says
Wow, that look so gorgeous!!
Louisa says
It looks incredible! Wow! I don’t think I would have the patience for it. And by the way, I think your Hannibal photo is more America’s Top Model haha! I bet the models on that show are all thinking ‘Hannibal face’ when they pose.