Bold Stripes In Our Entryway

I am so excited to show you this amazing DIY today! It was a lot of work and my calves were sure barking the day after, but SO worth it.

If you remember our Hallway use to look like THIS. It wasn't bad, but needed a little statement. I was so pleased with how the stripes came out that I needed to show you just a few tips on what worked for me. I was very intimidated on tackling stripes until I saw this tutorial and these tips! So helpful!

First, I started with a clean slate. Took all of the artwork and nails out of the walls. I repainted the walls with the base coat in Valspar's Bonsai. It is hard to tell in these pictures, but Bonsai is a wonderful neutral with gray and green undertones. Love the moodiness of it!

Next, I measured from the ceiling to the top of the wainscoting. I then divided that measurement by 7. Why 7? I decided I wanted an odd number of stripes somewhere around 10-12 inches wide. Not too wide, not too narrow. 

I then started measuring from the ceiling down every 10 1/4". I made little tick marks all the way across the wall and then used a level to draw my straight line while matching those tick marks.

(This was the tedious part ya'll! Up and Down my ladder a ba-zillion times!)

Then was the semi-fun part....Adding the Frog Tape! A tip on this also...it would be great to have two people adding the tape to the wall. One person holding the tape, the other actually lining it up and placing it right under the penciled line. I did this by myself and it just took forever dispensing the tape and adding it on the wall. Also, be sure that you don't tear the tape until the end of that stripe! Use a really long piece from start to finish!

Two things about the above pictures: 1) Those small pieces of tape are to warn me not to paint there! 2) You will notice that the stripes look uneven here. One larger than the other. It looks this way because I placed the tape inside the stripe that wasn't going to be painted. The tape is now inside the line I drew. Does this make sense? If you don't do it this way, then you will end up with uneven lines in the end. 

Next trick I learned...before you start with your darker paint, use your original wall color to edge the painters tape to seal in the color. Even though Frog Tape is suppose to be amazing with stripes, the darker paint can still bleed under the tape and then you will not have a clean straight line when you pull off the tape. It might take a bit longer for this step...but So worth it when you pull that tape off and squeal with delight!!

I then edged the darker stripes with a brush and then rolled the insides. I chose Slate by Restoration Hardware for the dark stripe and had it matched at Sherwin Williams. 

I am pretty excited to show you the end product! Sorry (not sorry) for the overload of pictures!!!

Next on the list..getting rid of the boob lights!

And of course I couldn't possibly say good-bye for the day until I gave you a little before, before and after!

Tell me...have you ever painted stripes? Any tips or tricks you learned?

Have a fabulous day!

Linked up: LizMarieBlog & Thrifty Decor Chick & Serenity Now