Hello, friends! Join me for how to paint stripes on a wall!

I admit to being a Pinterest junkie.

Love, love, love Pinterest!! I discovered this heavenly sharing platform about four years ago and I have pinned ideas for holiday decor, hairstyles I wish to try, gorgeous landscaping photos, and awesome home decor. I pinned dozens of tutorials on how to paint stripes on a wall. One slow Saturday morning in January, I decided to give this a try (… because who plans these things anyway?!).

HOW TO PAINT STRIPES ON A WALL

First, I had to consider which wall to paint. I am by no means a master painter, so softer stripes- especially for this first time- worked best! I found the perfect wall in my family room. Perfect because it is smaller than most others, it faces our outdoor pool area, and because of the position of the wall, the stripes would not take over the room!

Here is the before picture of the wall. Plain, drab, blah.

Quite honestly, I figured if the stripes turned out terrible, I would simply paint the entire wall a soft grey!

Alright, now to the business of making the magic happen…

STARTING THE PROJECT

First step is to measure your wall. I wanted to horizontal stripes, so I needed to measure top to bottom. Because I was not removing the trim, I did not include this space. I measured from the top of the wall to the top of the trim piece.

Next, consider the width for each stripe. My wall height was just over 10 feet, so I decided 9.5 inch spacing would look best.

Alright, the next step made me contemplate my sanity… just keeping it real, friends. Taping the lines. I cannot say enough you want good tape for this- tape that will stick and stay put and provide clean lines when you paint! It is way too much work to get everything in place just to have the tape slip when you get your brush moving!

Getting the lines straight can be a challenge. I used this awesome level to help! Whew, the level saved me. I made many, many attempts to get it perfect and eventually got this:

Well, I guess I do not have a photo of all of the taping without paint. I think after what felt like redo number 1,034 I was not focused on snapping pics!

Here is another picture taken along the way:

PAINTING THE STRIPES

A great tip I discovered is placing a small piece of tape in the stripe that you need to paint. When you are going through the process of taping and then painting, you can quickly become disoriented and forget which space actually gets the paint. Because I was using my existing wall color as one of the stripe colors, I had to be certain I was painting every other stripe on the correct stripe.

 

Also, another tip is to be certain you are using a paint brush that allows for swift marks that can brush smoothly in the direction away from the tape. Wooster brushes are my favorite, as they are easy to clean and the bristles allow for smooth coverage. Also, I bought my first Wooster brush three years ago and it is still holding up! Love a good brush!
And finally, after two coats- whoot whoot!! All done!

I LOVE it!! The finished product is hardly perfect, but I am super happy with how it turned out. The stripes add an interesting feature to our family room space!

Looking for other cool ideas for adding stripes? Click here to see how to paint stripes on a dresser!

So let’s hear from you! What kind of challenging paint project have you tackled lately?

Your partner in all things paint,

Kelly