April 1, 2012

Hand-painted Wallpaper in the Dining Room {our home}

On my last post, I gave a sneak peak at my idea for the dining room walls so now it's time to reveal the final product!

Here is the inspiration again:

   



The first step was painting the walls white for the background of the pattern.  We chose Benjamin Moore's Moonlight White after reading great reviews about it online.





I found a stencil online here (http://jonesdesigncompany.com/decorate/painted-wallpaper-a-tutorial/) that I printed on 11x17 paper to enlarge it and then traced it on a box we got from shopping at Costco.  Using an exacto knife I cut out the shape on a cutting board.




Then the tracing started..... and continued.




I decided to trace a little and then paint a little rather than do ALLLL the tracing and then ALLLL the painting.  I started using one of my larger craft painting brushes... but after a few minutes I started having some doubts (see bwloe image).  Eventually I tried a smaller brush and was WAY happier with the results and so we painted over the first try and continued on with the smaller brush (about 1/4" wide compared to 1/2").  I also thought the paint was too dark, despite it being the same exact paint that was already on the rest of the walls, so I bought another quart that was a primer + paint that was 25% lighter than the rest of the walls.  It ended up being a better combination, I think!





Honestly this project took quite a bit longer than I anticipated, but I am so happy with the result.  I worked extra hard to complete it prior to the party we were hosting for our new neighbors and luckily I finished just in time and managed to put the room back in order in time.


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