Houston… we have a problem. I suffer from an addiction. At least, the first step to recovery is recognizing the problem, which means I’m well on my way to kicking this… the only problem: I don’t want to!

Confession: My name is KT and I’m addicted to coloring on the walls!

I blame my mother (she is shaking her head and saying “what’s new?”). This clearly stems back from all the years of oppression and training that crayons are for paper and markers don’t belong on the walls.

I was the child that tattled if a classmate got a bit of marker on the table. “STAY ON THE PAPER ALICE! Colors are for PAPER!”

All reason went out the window when my hand touched that Sharpie Paint Pen to the wall in my entry way.  So many walls. So many ideas. And no one to tell me no! I’m drunk on the possibilities.

With the help of my supplier, Pinterest, I stumbled upon DIY Painted Wallpaper. You mean, wallpaper that I can cover up with one coat of paint in a few years? AND I get to use a Sharpie Paint Pen? There was no turning back. I’m in way to deep.

The Room Before

First thing was first. This wall (this room) was far to drab! It was time to give this wall painting diva a nice rich background to paint on.  The first order of business was painting these walls a nice dark shade of grey! (And this was before my 50 Shades addiction!).

A round of applause for The Kt-Did’s new man model, Joe. He is really taking over this blog… What a blog hog!

Now 50 Shades Darker (Not BDSM you filthy minded readers) it was ready to be transformed.

This is how I did it:

1. Download and print this lattice template.

2. Trace the template on a piece of cardboard or foam board and then cut it out. Use any type of material that is sturdy enough but easy to cut out. I used the cardboard on the back of notepad (you could also use a cereal or shoe box).

3. Get your paint pen ready! I went through about 6 of them to complete my wall. It cost me a little over $20 which isn’t bad compared to the price of wallpaper!

4. Start tracing your pattern on the wall. Using a white paint pen I started in the top left hand corner of my wall and traced the edges of my template. I then started moving my way down connecting the template together and drawing lines.

*TIP! Do not trace the entire pattern. When I was tracing the full pattern I noticed that it wasn’t lining up properly. As you are starting to trace you will start to visualize the best way to go about this. To help you see how I did it, examine the photo above. To the right you can see how I didn’t finish out the pattern. I lined the top of the pattern up where I had left off.

It doesn’t have to be perfect. As you can see below I started tracing my template when it was crooked so I just straightened it out and redid it. You can always go back and cover the white marks with you wall paint.

Also there were times that the curves on the patterns touched and there were sections that they were an inch apart. When the entire design is on the wall you can’t even notice this. Don’t get discouraged just move on and the result makes it all worth it!

Mistakes-are-ok moment!

Even DIY connoisseurs make mistakes. Check out the bottom left corner of the photo below. Notice that the curves touch in a few areas but don’t touch in other areas. Mistakes don’t exist if you are confident in what you do! In the scheme of your project little “glitches” go unnoticed and are nothing to fret over.

This project did take me roughly 4 hours to complete. I also started it one night after work and walked away after about an hour and returned to it the next night. I think I would have been able to do it quicker, but I have a fat furry and very lazy assistant.

With a few additions to the room (like a bed) we have a Pretty Woman make-over on our hands (and what appears to be another blog hog model).

TA DA!

Wednesday, October 10th, 2012, 3:03 PM   |   Home Projects  |  RSS feed |  Respond  |  Trackback