My First DIY Painted Wall Stripes

I have always wanted to try painting stripes on a wall. I love a good DIY project and it looks so simple! All I had to do was pick a location, decide on my design, and get to work!

​Boy was I wrong..

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Here are the crazy amount of steps
​it took me to get this done!

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Step 1:
Drawing the design. Using a pencil, I marked the where I wanted the lines to be on the wall. Surprisingly I did not measure this (which I would usually do). I decided to just wing it. I knew I wanted the each strip of paint to get smaller as they went up the wall so I just marked where I thought it would look good.

Step 2:
Using a level, I drew the lines with a pencil all the way across the wall. I have a very long, pretty heavy metal level so I would hold it on the wall with my left forearm and draw the line with my right hand. The level slipped several times so I would have to erase the mark and try again.

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Step 3:
Tape the line. Easier said than done! I didn't want to completely cover the line because I wanted it to be able to paint over it. So I had to place the tape just slightly below the line. And while keeping it taut with one hand, I had to keep it straight with the other. I actually wore it like a bracelet on my right arm to pull it across the wall. 

Step 4:
TAKE A BREAK LOL. This took quite a bit of time and I just wasn't ready to start the painting. So I took a few days off before starting again.

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Step 5:
Setup your area. I used a very large plastic drop cloth to cover the carpet and all of the nearby gym equipment. This had to be taped to the bottom of the trim, both of the side walls, and the equipment to ensure it would not move on me mid-paint job.

Step 6:
Setup your materials. I needed so much stuff to paint just this little area: the paint can, a flat-head screw driver to open the paint can, a tray to pour the paint into, a stirring stick to mix the paint, an edger, a small roller brush, and another small paint brush.

This edger was by far my favorite tool. It's used to paint all edges near the trim and side wall. It has a fabric pad for the paint, and little wheels on the side to keep it the perfect distance from the trim.

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Step 7: Start painting!
I used the edger first along both sides and along the bottom. Then using the smaller rolling brush I began to paint. I started at the top and worked my way from left to right, top to bottom.

​I learned that if you hold the roller more parallel to the wall, it rolls easier. If held more horizontally, it gets stuck and just smears the paint around.

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I also learned not to wear good clothes. I made it all the way to the bottom corner when I decided to sit down... right on top of the stupid edger that I loved so much and put a perfectly shaped blue rectangle on my right butt cheek.

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Step 8: Remove the tape.
Supposedly this is supposed to be done while the paint is still tacky. Since I started painting at the top, when I started to peel the tape off the top was pretty much dry and was way worse than the bottom strips.

​Unfortunately, the tape did not adhere to our extremely textured drywall very well and lots of the blue paint seeped through the edges of the tape. This is where my little paint brush came in. 

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Step 9: More painting.
​Luckily I still had the main wall paint available and had to go back with a little paint brush along EVERY. SINGLE. LINE.

​It was excruciating: mentally and physically. My shoulder kept cramping up and today my neck is very sore.

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Step 10: The Final Result

I LOVE IT!

I am extremely happy with the size of the stripes, their locations, and the color! It was a lot of work but extremely worth it. My little gym (that maybe I will use more often now) needed some sprucing! I plan to do more and will post those pictures when the time comes. I was considering doing these stripes on multiple walls but since it was more work than I had intended, I think this single wall is enough!

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Paint Colors

Main Wall Color:
Sherwin Williams
​Amazing Gray SW 7044

Accent Paint Color:
Sherwin Williams
Whirlpool SW 9135

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Click on any image above to be redirected to their website for product info and pricing. Feel free to contact me to help come up with a great design for your next project but probably don't hire me to do the actual painting :)

Contact me for your next design project!