Do you have a room in your house that has just been taking forever to get where you want it? Ok, I actually have a few rooms like that, but since we’re still not even two years in the house, I know I shouldn’t be so antsy about it. {How many times have you heard me mention my impatience with projects? Yeah, I’m not getting better!}
Our dining room is one such room in the new house. The front room and dining room are both connected, on the south side of the house. There’s a narrow doorway from the dining room to the kitchen, which is open to the main living area, and that’s basically where we live. The other two rooms aren’t fully furnished yet, and tend to act as dumping stations for projects I’m working on or stuff I’m planning to give away/sell/toss. I’ve been itching to make a move on them in some way, but outside of painting, I’ve been sort of clueless.
The photo above is the blank canvas that existed when we bought the house. After so many years in a rental in Las Vegas, I refuse to live with beige walls. Painting was the first step.
Early on, I painted the room a dark shade of blue, and updated the window treatments. That brass chandelier definitely needs to go, but hasn’t as yet. I’d hung some paintings on the far wall, but this wall connecting to the kitchen has been blank and boring for months.
While browsing the web for inspiration, I came across this image from the Royal Design Studio Stencils website. Inspiration in buckets!! I’d never done a project that large, but Mama was about to get herself a stenciled dining room wall. And possibly a heart attack in the process, since it would involve getting on a ladder.
It could end really well, or really badly, but I was determined to stencil that boring blank wall. I managed to snag a big beautiful Moroccan Wall Stencil, and decided to go with a shiny metallic paint on top of the dark blue. Here’s what you need if you’re planning a stencil project:
Supplies:
Stencil
Stencil Adhesive Spray
Foam Roller
Paint/paint tray
Yep, that picture on the stencil is the look I was going for. The stencil is nice and large, perfect for my project. Time to get going!!
It isn’t as though I have fifteen foot ceilings, but I promise you I hated every second of being on that ladder. Heights and I don’t mesh well.
I was using Modern Masters Metallic Paint in Snowflake, same as I did for my stenciled table project. The photo above shows three coats at once, which is what I was doing before moving my stencil. On my advice: DON’T DO THAT. Do a coat and move, and go back over again. My stencil was getting super heavy under so many coats of paint (and my ignorance, lol). The wonderful people at Royal Design are all about customer service, and their advice had my project moving swiftly along.
The Results!
I love my new wall! I will possibly add some thick wooden shelves for pictures/artwork at some point, but it definitely isn’t boring anymore!!
Thank you to Royal Studio Design Stencils for partnering with me on this project. All opinions are my own.
If you are looking for inspiration on stenciling, be sure to pop over to the Royal Design Studio’s Flikr page – so many gorgeous projects to jump start your ideas!
If you are a fellow DIY blogger, you might also be interested in their Blog Outreach Program page with details on Features, Reviews and Giveaways.
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