Guest Blogger: How to Creatively Paint with Patterns

Guest Blogger #606, Entry #1425, July 30, 2012

Accent walls bring visual interest to any room; but take your accent wall one step further by painting a pattern instead of a solid color. Patterns may seem like hard work to paint, but all it takes is a little preparation and precise measurements on your part.

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What you’ll need:

Painter’s tape, a ladder, a ruler, and a level.

Choose your pattern.

Your choices are essentially limitless. You’re only limited by your imagination and your confidence in your measuring skills. The easiest patterns for the average homeowner to execute are vertical stripes, bold blocks, or diamonds.

Clean the wall.

With a large, damp sponge, wipe down the wall. Let it dry completely before you do anything else.

Paint a base.

Your base coat will be the color of one of your stripes or some of your blocks and diamonds.

Measure.

Using a piece of wood, measure the increments for your design. Vertical stripes should be between 5 inches and 12 inches wide for a visually pleasing effect. Anything narrower would create a woozy feeling, and anything wider would defeat the purpose of creating a striped pattern altogether.

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Mark the wall.

Hold your piece of wood against the wall, checking the alignment with a level, and mark the spots on the wall in conjunction with the measurements on your wood. Using the piece of already-marked lumber will save you time and the aggravation of having to measure repeatedly.

Keep marking.

Take a long level or a long straight edge and mark the rest of your pattern. Mark with care, though, since pencil marks can be seen through your paint.

Tape out your pattern.

Remember you’re taping the outline of your pattern and painting inside the tape. To ensure your pattern looks polished, burnish the tape with a credit card to seal the edges so that paint doesn’t seem underneath the tape.

Paint.

Wait for the first coat to dry completely before applying a second.

Remove the tape.

Pull the tape in a direction away from the fresh tape to achieve a smooth finish.

Paint patterns can make a bold statement in your home. Don’t overdo it though, since a room completely covered in vertical stripes will not make a bold statement, but will instead overwhelm the room. Not up to executing perfect vertical stripes? Leave painting to the experts at CertaPro Painters of Rockford, located at 101 N. Main Street, Suite 4, Crystal Lake, IL 60014. Contact CertaPro today at  800-462-3782

For more home decor ideas on Stagetecture, click here.