You’ll need:
- Paint in as many colors as you plan on using
- Small brushes
- Drop cloth
- blue or purple painters tape
- a level or yardstick
1. Clear
Move everything along the wall as far away as possible so you have room to work. Remove any hanging pictures, nails and outlet covers that are going to intrude on your stripe area and tape around any fixtures.2. Plan
Take a few minutes to assess your canvas and plan out where you want your stripes, how think you want them to be and what colors you want to use in which areas. If you're being precise, get out your yardstick and start to measure off your stripes. You can also go for a more free-form look and have stripes of many widths.3. Tape
Use your painters tape to mark the outside edges of the stripes. You will probably not be able to manage one long strip of tape from floor to ceiling, so this is where having a level will come in handy if you're looking for perfectly straight lines down your wall. Having two people for this job helps. Station on person on a step ladder at the ceiling and have the second person guide the tape down to the floor.If you're doing zig-zag stripes, or any other fancy patterns, just make sure that your tape line is unbroken for the length of the stripe. If your plan includes stripes of different colors crossing at any point, you'll have to choose now which one you want on top. You'll only be able to do one at a time, working from the bottom layer up. When it dries, you can remove the tape and set up the next one.
4. Paint
If you're using a small amount of paint and have just a small container of paint, don’t bother with the paint tray and roller set-up. Just take the can in one hand and your brush in the other. Use long even strokes and apply the paint as evenly as possible. It's ok if paint gets on the tape, but this is one case where you don't want to paint outside the lines. If you're using many colors, use a different brush for each one.5. Repeat
If your stripes are pretty thin, they're probably dry by now, so you can give them a second coat. Repeat your pattern from earlier in the day. The next day, carefully peel up the tape and touch up any edge bits that got bumpy. Then you can stand back and admire your very own special effects.
-- The Nest Editors
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