DIY // Perfect Painted Wallpaper

With the cabinets shining bright from their fresh coats of paint, the bare wall opposite our sink was needing a whole lotta love.  We have plans to put up some open shelving on the largest section, but that's about it.  Frankly, it's a little too blah for me so I set out to find a way to liven it up a bit.  With four layers of wallpaper underneath the new drywall I couldn't fathom putting another layer on these walls even with the awesome selection out there right now.  So I enlisted my trusty paint brush to save the day again via painted wallpaper!

 Here's a glimpse of what that wall looked like amidst the remodeling mess...

Of course chevron print crossed my mind, but I'm a little over the zig-zag craze at the moment.  Are you guys with me?  {Although I will confess that I do love this nursery by House 36 and am leaning towards this print for the seat cushion on the bench in the nook.}  So I scoured the internet looking for the perfect pattern and came upon the quatrefoil trellis.  I love this pattern and I'm not the only one.  Ballard Designs had a trellis wallpaper that they were selling for $119 for a double roll and Emily at Jones Design Company transformed the walls in her office with a stencil.  Jackpot!

I used the stencil provided by Emily and used the same double outline method.  Man, she's not kidding when she says it's tedious.  You trace the same stencil about a thousand times and go back over that with paint and then over again with a second coat in my case.  It's tiring, but the outcome is totally worth it.  All in all it taken me roughly 8 hours (obviously not in one sitting) and I expect another hour or two to get the 2nd coat on.  Now, if you're interested in this pattern but want to skip all the tedious work check out the all-over stencil at Cutting Edge Stencils.  It's sure to save you time.

So, back to that wall....After what seemed like weeks (probably because it was!) I finally finished tracing and painting the first coat and not without some crazy acrobatic tricks to get that hard to reach bottom area and corner.  Thank god for yoga and a husband who is very unselfish with doling out the back rubs (unlike his very selfish wife!)

And by golly, it's looking pretty damn good.  It's not perfect by any means, but if you don't sit there and stare at it all day long (hard, I know.) then you'll never really notice.  Hopefully.

I still have to paint another coat and we really need to get that trim back up, but I'm calling this one a victory and sharing "After" photos before it's technically finished but you can't blame me, right?

So what do you think?  Doesn't it just change the whole tone of the room?  It's true what the say...a little paint can work wonders.