DIY Stripes

As you saw in our nursery sneak peek, we painted stripes! And, by we, I mean, my husband painted stripes! We wanted to paint navy stripes on the main wall where the crib would be placed. To have the perfect navy color for the stripes and the dresser, I bought our curtains first to then match the color.

This is the first time painting stripes for us and after lots of research online, we wanted to share our experience and what worked best for us. The DIY post is written by my husband - all I did was take the pictures and be a hand model. Thanks, husband!

How-To Paint Stripes

The two tools that will make this project much easier than you thought:

1. A laser level placed on a sturdy base
2. The best tape you can find (we used Gorilla tape)

I found it easiest to set my laser lever on top of an ironing board. I found that it kept the laser line more consistent than just placing the level on the floor. The higher vantage point also made it easier to fine tune the line for a perfect stripe. Take some time to work with your laser level to figure the best way to make small adjustments to the line. Remember, measure at multiple levels of the wall to make sure the line is level.

Wow, what a great looking handy man! After you have measured the width of your line at multiple levels, it's time to tape. I found that the easiest way to effectively see the laser line and the edge of the tape was to place my body on the opposite side of where the tape was being places. As you can see in the picture, I'm to the left of the laser, the tape is to the right. I have no idea if this is the standard way of taping with a laser level, but it worked for me.

After all taping is done, take any plastic card (think grocery card) and press it firmly against every single centimeter of tape. Would the tape work just as well without this step? It's possible, but better safe than sorry.

For the top and bottom edges of the wall, I chose to use a brush. It was much nimbler than a roller and gave me less of a chance of painting the ceiling by accident.

We painted stripes that were 8 inches wide. Add the inch on each side for the tape and I had a total of 10 inches to paint. It just so happens that the standard roller is 9 inches wide, which meant for much of the painting I simply rolled straight up and down on the wall. If you chose to paint 6 inch stripes, you would more than likely have to find a smaller roller or roll left to right for every stripe.

Wow, what soft hands for a handy man! This is the final step, the moment of truth, the point at which you find out if all that hard work was for nothing. In actuality, don't expect every single line to be perfect. You will have to retouch a few spots after all the tape is removed.

And, the finished product!

Be sure to check out our nursery sneak peek here. I promise that I will be sharing the finished room soon!

Let's just say someone wasn't too happy about the stripe painting since it didn't involve petting him....

Have you ever painted stripes? What did you do differently?

Enjoy,

Ellen