Heika’s DIY stenciled wall

Handmade stencil painted on a wall, photo

The last tutorial that Heika is sharing with us is how she painted an intricate handmade stencil on her daughter’s bedroom walls. She writes, “This project was quite time-consuming, but the final product was worth all of the work. I made this stencil the same way I did for the dresser. I originally saw this stencil painted on a wall in Domino magazine and fell in love with it. It is such an unusual and fun way of breaking up the wall space in a room.” Click here to see the rest of her daughter’s bedroom.

Vanity with stenciled wall and tissue-paper flowers, photo

How to stencil a wall

SUPPLIES & TOOLS

2 shades of interior latex paint
paint roller & tray
photo paper
stencil paintbrush
craft knife (such as an X-Acto knife)
small tip artist paint brush
stencil adhesive spray
edging tools
measuring tape
level
masking tape
drop cloth
overhead projector

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Make the stencil
Photocopy an image (I copied the page from Domino), then have the image transferred onto a clear overhead projector sheet. (I went to Kinko’s, but the sheets can also be run through regular copiers.) Measure the projected image to make sure it’s the desired height, then trace it onto photo paper (it’s thicker paper that holds up for multiple uses). The stencil should be at least 1½ of the pattern length so that it’s easy to line up later. Cut out the negative space (light pink) of the stencil using a craft knife.

2. Pre-prep
Move furniture out of the way and cover with plastic. Cover floor with drop cloth.

3. Create a guide line
Measure up from the floor 3½ feet. Using a level, tape off a line.

4. Painting walls
Paint the top half (light pink) first, from ceiling to the tape line. Use edging tools to make crisp lines at the ceiling and around moulding. Once it’s dry, remove the tape and paint the dark pink (again using edging tools around moulding) up to the light pink. (My stencil is about six inches tall, so I painted the dark pink a little more than six inches higher than where I wanted the stencil to start.)

5. Stencil
When the paint is completely dry, measure again and tape off a level line at three feet from the floor. Next spray the back side of the stencil with adhesive spray (the adhesive spray remains sticky enough to use the stencil many times before having to reapply it). Then line the stencil up with the top of the tape line and stick it to the wall. Using the light pink paint and a stencil paint brush, I stenciled around the entire room, making a border between the two colors of paint.

Tip: It’s difficult to keep paint from seeping under the edge of the stencil (even with adhesive spray), especially when the stencil is used repeatedly. I wanted the lines to be crisp because the two pinks were quite close in color. So, after the stenciling was dry, I took a fine tip artist brush and dark pink paint and touched up any splotches, where paint seeped under the stencil.