How-To: Stripes The Old School Way

Hello Again!

So to start the jump back into the blogging boat, Id thought I'd share some of my favorite stuff, painting techniques.

Probably the most simple, and yet daunting technique, is painting stripes. 

I've been doing this technique for years, and to be quite honest, I used to despise them!!  Like actually  wanting to turn a job down, I hated them that much. Mostly because they always seem to be on textured walls, and the paint always bleed through. 

Even now, one or both of these, can happen on occasion, uggg!

So I wanted to show you a couple tricks to make the whole process easier for you. My daughter has graciously assisted me in this how-to, so you can see that if a 12 year old can do it....so can you!!

The base......Getting the wall prepped, and painted with the right color is half the battle. When your deciding on your colors, you want your wall color to be the lightest of all the colors. No matter how many colors you work with. Trying to cover up over a darker color later, means more paint, and more time. 

Here we started with "Creamy" by Sherwin Williams. 

Thankfully, the walls were floated smooth in this room. Which mean there is no texture. This is ideal for painting stripes, but is rarely the case. If you can find someone to float out your walls before you paint, you will definitely end up with a cleaner looking stripe, and may save yourself some headaches along the way. If your just doing a focal wall, it shouldn't cost to much, and may be worth the investment.

My daughter helped by rolling out the wall, anything to get messy!

The next step was to decide the size of the stripes. There are millions of size combinations for striping walls. Here we just went with you basic two colors, and kept each stripe, 8" tall. I used a yard stick, to mark the lines since it lies flat on the wall, which is easier than a measuring tape on a wall like this. Start measure at the top of the base board, for a more even looking stripe. The base board are more likely to be level than the ceiling as well.  I made tick marks up the wall, every 8". I then did the same thing on two other areas of the wall. Next, I used the level, and basically connected the dots.

When you are marking out your lines, start in the middle of the wall. Don't line up the marks to the ceiling or base boards. Both can tend to be angled, uneven, or warped. In this room the ceiling line was not level, and bowed in three different spots. Keeping your starting line away form these areas, will help you to stay straight, regardless of your tick marks, those are just helpful guides. 

The next step was to tape off the marked lines. I painted the walls just before doing all of these steps, and I knew the paint would still be a bit tacky, so I used green Frog Tape, Multi-Surface.


This is a lighter tack tape than blue tape. If I would have used a blue tape, or masking tape, it would have ripped of my paint, and most likely the mud from floating the wall. If your wall is already painted, or you have patience and can take your time with a project like this, you should be ok with the other types of tape.
If you are painting over a delicate surface, like previously painted wallpaper, or floated walls that may not have been primed correctly, try using the Delicate-Surface, Frog Tape.


I will say that I am partial to this tape for striping, no matter the base paint. The Frog Tape is meant to seal in the edges when it gets wet. So after I get all of my lines up, I take a slightly damp rag and run it along the edges of the lines I'm painting over. This just gets it prepped for paint.

When taping each line, start the tape just over your pencil mark. Your paint will run over the pencil, and cover it up. If not, you may end up with smeared pencil on the wall, on the lighter stripes. 

Another important thing to remember is how you tape your lines. I hold the beginning of the tape at one corner, and gently pull out a couple feet of tape straight out. Then lay the line down, as carefully and straight as possible. You want to be careful not to tug, or pull as you do each two foot section. Otherwise you could warp the tape, which warps your straight line. 

Another helpful trick is to mark the lines you are painting with a dab of the paint color. This helps you to see which ones to tape. Cause believe me, when your nose is right up against the wall, it just looks like alot of lines.

Then the fun part, painting your lines. I made a custom colored gold paint, to match some items going in the room. Metallics are a fun way to glam up the look. It also gives you more than one sheen, which gives it character in any lighting. You don't need a fancy brush here, just a $1.00 chip brush works great, and you can toss it when your finished! Always brush in the direction of the stripe, going in the opposite direction can force paint underneath the tape.

This is a great way to get the kids involved in painting a room, with a big end reward. . 

I painted two coats of the gold on this wall. Metallics tend to be pretty opaque, and should all need at least two coats. 

I let the paint start to dry for a bit before I rip off the tape. If there are any globs near the edges they can run if you do this to soon.

When you take the tape off, no matter the wall texture, when it was painted, or the kind of tape you use....it s always best to pull the tape slowly, back in the opposite direction, and at a slight angle (see photo below). This just helps the tape to come off smoothly without ripping of any parts of the wall along the way. Don't get in a rush and forget halfway through the wall either. I've made some large messes of walls, by being impatient!

If you wait to long and the paint starts to dry, this is a helpful method as well. As the paint drys, the latex on the top of the tape will be connected to the stripe paint, and may pull part of your stripe paint with the tape. So don't wait to long! 

And there you have it! 

I didn't even have to touch up one line!!!

Here is the completed bedroom. Designed and decorated by the ladies at Dy Lynne Decor.

There are a few other ways to work with the tape, if you have textured walls.

This was a 4 color striped wall. The small stripes in between each color was going to be white. To avoid panting the whole wall white, I just painted a small area, under where each stripe was going. 

In this first sample....I used the green, Multi-Surface Frog Tape. I sealed in the edges, by running over the tape with the same white paint that is underneath. Normally a damp rag down the line would suffice, but this was a Monterrey texture, and was pretty heavy. You don't need much paint, just enough to seal the edges in. This will create a crisp clean line. If the paint on the wall is fresh, Delicate-Surface Frog Tape is a good way to go, it wont take the paint with it when pulled off.

In this sample.....I used a Scotch Blue tape, regular tack. I did the same thing, and ran the paint over the tape. The blue tape puckered more than the green, but didn't cause any problems with the line underneath. If it warps to bad, the line may not be straight. 

In this sample.....I used the low tack Scotch Blue tape. It didn't pucker as much, but I also don't feel like it gave as clean of a line. Some spots bled.

In this sample.....I didn't cover up the tape with the white paint at all. I used regular Scotch Blue tape, which has no sealing qualities. You can see how much of the paint bled. I had to use a small brush, and run along the whole length of the line.
Definitely my least favorite option, obviously :)

 Here is the wall completed. The Frog Tape was the winner here! Little to no clean up of the lines, even on a textured surface.

Here are just a few other types of stripes I've done in the past.  You can really mix and match all sorts of colors and sizes. They can be on one focal wall, or for a more powerful look, lead around the whole room.

Later this week I will show you how to make stripes "With High Tech Tools"!!
Until then......