How to Paint Stripes on Your Wall

I love stripes.  Absolutely love them.  I've always wanted to paint them on a wall somewhere in our house, but just couldn't pull the trigger.  Part of it was laziness, some was fear of messing up, and the other half was not knowing exactly where to put them.  

Well, I did it!  We turned our formal dining room into Smith's playroom...not because our child is the center of our world or anything like that, but because it just made good sense.  We don't formally entertain anyone.  And when we do host events or have people over for dinner, it's very casual. We like people to feel welcome and a part of our family. Anyway, our dining room turned playroom is the first room you see when you walk into our house.  So I wanted it to be cute/colorful/welcoming.  Stripes just seemed to fit the bill.  So I purchased this handy little tool to help me put the stripes up.

It's only $7.87 from Home Depot.  Not bad, especially for getting the stripes perfect (you're definitely going to want to get this.)  

Then we purchased Frog Tape.  

It's impossible to get the stripes not to bleed without this stuff, so again, I highly suggest buying it.  It's $7.87 at Home Depot.

Now the fun began.  MR.P and I put the little man to bed and got to work.  We measured out exactly how many stripes we wanted on the wall and went to town.  We did our stripes every 9.25 inches.  With the first we measured down and put a nail on either sides of the wall.  The "chalk rope" has a little place on the end where we hung it on the nail, then we pulled it across then wall, popped it against the wall and VOILA!  A blue line was on the wall.  Then we put the frog tape underneath the chalk line, measured 9.25 inches down...etc until we were all the way at the bottom.  It honestly didn't take very long.  But it's worth taking your time and not rushing.  You can tell when stripes are crooked.  

To be honest, these tape stripes were on the wall for a good week before I got the guts to paint.  Not sure why I was so scared, but oh well.  I used  these foam rollers because they give such a smooth finish.  

I did about 4-5 coats of paint.  

(this was probably after the 3rd coat)

And finally done!  I am pleased with the way it all came out.  This was my inspiration photo.

(source)

I had a few ideas on how to make it colorful and fun!  Here's the first one.

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I got lucky and found these frames at Hobby Lobby!

I plan on putting pictures of Smith and his cousins and friends in the frames.  I'll add frames as we go through the years.  I also think it would be fun to Add an "S" for Smith and then the first initial of our next kids :)  

So here's where the room stands.  I have plans to recover a chair and a few other things here and there.  I'll share when I start these projects!