This week I've had a chance to work on an stencil accent wall in my loft (finally). The space has 8' ceilings and this wall is about 12' long. I talked about Cutting Edge Stencils in this post while getting inspiration for this project. This company features stencils for the modern day. Stencils are not just for the walls anymore! You can stencil a piece of furniture, fabric, ceilings, pillows, and even doors (a whole post on do-it-yourself doors coming this week)!
For my project, I chose the Entwined stencil show below.
It's contemporary but with soft lines. I thought it would add the right amount of curvature to a straight space which also features large rigid desk. I received the stencil within the week that I ordered it. It arrived rolled up in a box which I then laid out flat as the instructions said. It said that it would flatten out on it's own, which even after a few days, it did not completely straighten out. When I was ready to use it, I warmed it with a hair dryer (which directions also suggested) and that seemed to help.
I knew this would be time consuming so I made sure I followed exact instructions so I didn't have to repeat the process. Cutting Edge Stencils has many how-to videos featured on the website with easy to follow tutorials. But even so the stencil bled through on the very first one. I continued very carefully for two days until the wall was complete, but definitely no where close to perfect.
I used white paint over a dark mushroom color and had to use two coats to get it the color I desired and to cover the dark color underneath. I also had to clean and dry the stencils twice during this time as the paint build up was interfering with the stencil's preciseness.
The package came with a top stencil, which proved to be very valuable, and I used the same large stencil for the bottom of the wall. However, there's nothing to help you with the sides of each wall and I had to cut the stencil so that it would fit correctly. Something I really didn't want to do but turned out to be the best way for me to get the exactness I was looking for.
I ended up spending another hour going through each loop with a fine paint brush touching it up. After all that, the pattern is exactly what I was looking for and I am satisfied with the project.
Overall I would recommend using their products due to their great designs, cost effectiveness (as opposed to wall papering), and very easy to change if necessary. But keep in mind this takes patience, time, and a steady hand! Nothing is as easy as it may appear in the how-to video :)
Here is a close up of the space (sorry the photo is crooked). I'm not complete with this area so I didn't want to do a reveal just yet.
What do you think? Is this something you may try in the future?
XoX,
Heather
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