If you have been reading my blog from the beginning you have already been introduced to my entryway (and not a, “yay, it’s so pretty” kind of introduction). As seen below, my entryway showcased beaten up builders beige and a complete lack of storage.
This area of my home has been on the agenda since we first moved in a year ago but we finally got to it post tax return. To save money we opted to go for a paint treatment rather than my dreamed of wall paper. To save even more money we decided to do the painting ourselves. I’m loving the results:
As you can see in the picture below I opted to do the white stripes in a flat paint and the revere pewter stripes in a semi gloss to give it more of a wallpaper look and add some interest.
A couple accessories from my “treasure trove” are featured in these next pictures: the vintage mirrors at the top of the stairs and the painted candle holders on the ledge.
We had gotten so used to our ugly entryway that it took a while to adjust to the new pretty. At first I was stuck on the fact that the stripes unintentionally look like race car stripes (“no they don’t” Steve says as he holds up Charlie’s toy car followed by “oh…”), but we are both totally in love with the look now.
If you are thinking about trying stripes in your own home, a couple tips from my experience and that of other bloggers I learned from:
1. Use a laser level. Seriously, it will save your sanity and your stripes will just look better. If you don’t have a friend to borrow one from, Home Depot rents them out.
2. Run a credit card over top of your tape to get out any wrinkles and make sure that it is pressed tight to the wall.
3. Frog tape doesn’t necessarily work any better than regular painters tape. To avoid paint bleeding under the tape, paint the edges of the tape with your base colour. This way, in my case, the white paint bleeds onto the white paint and acts as a barrier, preventing your darker colour from bleeding under the edges of the tape and ruining your hard work.
Hope you enjoyed the pics and that those tips help you along your way. I’ll be updating the pictures in a little while as we are getting new hardwood floor put in next month. Looking forward to ripping out that stinky, poorly installed carpet!
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