How To Paint Stripes: the easiest tutorial ever!

I recently totally updated our guest bathroom. I painted an accent wall with stripes, which I think totally makes the room.

Today I'll tell you the easiest way to paint stripes on a wall.

Get ready to have your world rocked. 

or at least vibrated a little.

Stripes are timeless and classic, and can totally transform a room.

Here are the supplies you will need to paint stripes on a wall.
Scout's honor, this is all it takes. 
I think I was a Brownie, but whatev.

You'll need:

1. main paint color (I got a gallon only because I planned to use the color on another room as well. For a bathroom this size, you could probably get away with a quart.)
2. accent stripe color (I got a tester that cost $3 and had some left over.) 
3. A Wooster Shortcut Paintbrush (this is the blue paint brush pictured above, and it is my absolute favorite. I've used these on my whole entire house. Saves me so much time. I think I own 5.)
4. tape measure
5. Painter's Tape (My fave is the blue kind.)
6. level

Here are the paint colors I used in our guest bath.

 I used the Ocean Pearl (flat finish) as my main color and the Sea Salt (flat finish) as my accent stripe color. 

For info on the bird art, click here.

The first thing you need to do is decide how big to make your stripes. I measured the height of my wall, and divided the height by the number of stripes I wanted. For my wall, this determined that I should make each stripe 11 inches wide. (Doing this insures that you don't end up with a half stripe up at the top or bottom of your wall.)

Once you know the width of each stripe, use your tape measure, level, and painter's tape, and start taping off the wall where the stripes should be.

(That picture was taken about half way through my striping...I'm such a terrible photo-journalist!)

Make sure to press firmly on the edges of the tape. Run your finger along the edge, or use something like a credit card. This will prevent your paint from bleeding underneath the tape. As long as you've pressed down the tape, you should get a nice clean line no matter what sort of painter's tape you use.

 Then paint every other stripe with the accent color you've chosen.

As you can see in the above photo, when I was done painting a stripe, I took the tape down. You'll want to take the tape down while the paint is still wet to avoid damaging the paint.

When it's done, you should have something like this:

Hope that answers any questions! 

Make sure to pin this post so you'll have this info when you need it!

Pssssst.  Want more?

Check out my top 10 thrift store shopping tips here.

Check out our house tour here!

Want more easy DIY Ideas? Check out my top 10 here.

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The DIY Centerpiece - Faking Some Milk Glass!

I'm sharing my DIY centerpiece today. It was cheap, easy, and turned out really pretty.

I've really been wanting some milk glass lately, but after seeing the price of it at the antique store over vacation, I got to thinking I could probably create a similar look with spray paint.


So...

 I raided my supply closet where I hoard my paint cans, sandpaper, and headband collection (kidding...I hate headbands...my head is the size of a watermelon, and frankly, headbands make me grumpy.) and I found a few random bits of junk.

Sidenote: that little sparkly critter on the left didn't make the cut. I tried to make him pretty, but failed miserably, so he now occupies the trash can.  Decorating casualty.

I have a feeling my little chotskies cry in their sleep, just wishing they were milk glass, so who am I to keep them from my their dream?! 

So I grabbed a half empty can of  'Heirloom White' spray paint 

Don't be scared...that's my giant hand and that thing in the background is my yard. We don't rake. Or have grass. Long story.



and then headed out with my junk to do THIS:

So, that's what I did today. Find Junk. Spray paint it. Assemble in a pretty fashion.

Happy spray painting!

P.S. Want more easy, cheap art ideas? Check out these posts:

1. DIY Sequin Art, 2. Bird Silhouette Art  3. Skeleton Key Art, 4. Large Scale Art, 5. DIY Striped Mirror, 6. Chevron Art, 7. Peacock Feather Art, 8. Moroccan Stencil Art, 9. How To Hang A Gallery Wall,

10. Paint Chip Art

OR.....

Are you curious about the rest of our house and how we totally transformed it by ourselves on a very small budget?

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Our Entryway Makeover: The Before & After

Our entryway was the first thing we saw when we first looked at our house 2 years ago. Most people wouldn't have been too jazzed about the sight I saw, but I saw something special. Sure, the foyer was filled with terrible orange-toned wood, had parquet floors, and carpeted stairs, but it also had sweeping 30 feet high ceilings, cool light fixtures, and a whole lot of potential.
 I saw what could be, not was was.

This was the foyer we saw that very day.

Okay, I fibbed just a little. THAT is the foyer after hours of sanding down all the wood, prepping it for paint. Still though, that's pretty much what I lived with at the time. 
My own personal wooden nightmare.

I've probably gone through 10 cans of white paint since we bought this house, and have painted nearly everything I own white. I've had several people ask me what my aversion to wood is. Let me clear a few things up. I like wood. But it has to be the right type of wood. Not the horrid outdated 1980's orange wood this house was filled with. Plus, for someone like me who is constantly treasure hunting....white paint is a great way to unify a house full of mismatched thrift store furniture! So, there...that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

After a ton of work, and a ton of white paint, here is the foyer today:

And check out the little nook I created.

There just wasn't any room for a console table area in this foyer, so I got a little crazy and just yanked off the closet doors and made room. I really love the way it turned out. It's unexpected and fun. And functional! Here's a closeup:

I painted the inside of the closet a soft blue-gray, used an old dresser I had, a thrift store mirror I painted gold, and some random accessories...and VOILA...pretty little nook and place to store stuff!

Here is the before/after of that dresser. I painted it white, too. I also changed out the hardware. 

I love the little mirrored tray with candles. The tray was $1 at a Florida thrift store (yes, we thrift even on vacation!) and the giant gold vase was $7 at Marshall's. I found the mirror at a thrift store, too. It was originally dark brown, but got a pretty gold face lift!

Let's look at some other views of the entryway.

I  envision this entire space with really dark ebony hardwood floors. I plan to start the hardwood in the foyer and have it come up the stairs and into the entire upstairs area.

Here are some side by side comparisons:

It's come a long way, and I'm really pleased with the progress.

I think once the carpet and parquet are replaced with dark hardwood, this space will really shine.
 This is what you see when you head up the stairs.

And this is the view you see when you come in the door. The house is a split level and you come in on a landing and then the stairs go up to the living/dining/kitchen and master/guest/office. Going down the other set of stairs leads to the basement living room, another guest bedroom (currently our home gym) and another bathroom.

The entryway is one of my favorite parts of the house. It's still a work in progress, and has a long way to go, but I think it's already come a long way! I love walking into the house because it feels so open and spacious. It's one of the parts of the house that really sold me in the very beginning.

And it still hasn't lost it's charm!

Pssssst.  Want more?

For more about our home, visit our house tour.

or check out my fave DIY ideas here.

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