You may remember the mini room makeover I worked on in January that featured Walls Need Love Design Packs. Ruby's room was so fun to work on because she's all about pink and gold and patterns and textures so I didn't have to think too hard on how to refresh her space on a budget. Well, I'm back with a second room-in-progress featuring Walls Need Love's Easy Stripes and am happy to share how their removable self-adhesive strips are taking center stage in a sea of solid colors.
Sebastian's room was probably in even more need of a little love as his space is on the main floor and was a catch-all for the random extra chairs and big toddler toys we'd toss in to hide whenever company was coming. It also housed our Christmas decoration boxes the entire month of December and well into February! Poor kid! So neglected! I finally had some time to focus on designing his space in early March and then things came together rather smoothly. I'll be sharing full details and the full room tour in a separate post as I still have some shelving to add, a bed frame to assemble, and all the styling he'll allow and then we'll be golden! Today is all about how to think outside the stripey box when it comes to using the Easy Stripe strips.
As a renter, it's almost impossible to make changes to the color or patterns on your walls unless you've got a trusting landlord or don't need that security deposit. This is the main reason we almost ALWAYS make white walls a high priority on our list after wooden floors when searching for a cute rental. Our current rental is a beautifully remodeled 100-year-old home with beautiful windows and woodwork but the paint color is a sad little shade of gray. Like the kind of light you get on a rainy, winter day. It's not the worst in the world, by far, but I regularly have to work on my good attitude about how it affects the brightness of my photos. However, I'm a firm believer in working with what you've got and enjoying it as often as you can!
After working with Walls Need Love the first two times, I knew their product would be the perfect option for making Sebastian's room feel a little more exciting.
I searched Pinterest to see what other people had done with washi tape or similar removable strips and got some great design inspiration. I knew I wanted something that made a statement without being a project so challenging that I gave up halfway through. After entertaining the idea of an entire wall of diagonal stripes, a repeat pattern of hand cut hashtags (still love this concept), and trying to recreate the look of flying at light speed like they do in Star Wars, I finally settled on a simple repeating arrow shape. It looked simple enough but there was still a bit of math involved.
Before ordering I had to measure out the length of the walls I wanted to cover to make sure I didn't run out or place an order a zillion times bigger than I needed. Upon arrival, I used my ladder and yardstick to make some marks to guide my design. We have an A/C duct that was retrofitted into the house on one side of the room so I was sure to take that into account. It was 17" lower than the ceiling line so I marked the corner shown below under the air duct as my highest point and then measured up 17" from the floor up to mark my lowest point. Then I found the center of the wall by the side of my window frame where the tip of the arrow would touch and made a mark there. Then I just carefully made a few dots with a pencil along my yardstick to help me visualize the line it would create from the top corner to the tip of the arrow.
There was a little bit of trial and error in play but I also got pretty lucky with my measurements. I attached the first strip at the top of my corner and then carefully unrolled my roll so I could get down the ladder and gently place it on the center point near my window. This would've been a great project to do with an extra set of hands but my extra set of hands was keeping the smallest member of the household out of my way and off the ladder, so take heart that it's not impossible to do this all by yourself!
After placing the first strip, I finished the line of that arrow with the bottom strip. I was really happy with the size of things and then just made consistent marks for the next four arrows. I measured up 6.5" from the top of the first strip to where I wanted the bottom of my next strip along the seam of my corner. Then I'd follow the top of the first strip about halfway up the arrow and make another mark measuring up 6.5". I'd repeat that until I had three marks. I tried finding the marking place for the point of the second arrow but decided to just let the strip overlap the center line instead. Each time I stuck the next strip on I would step back to make sure it was (mostly) as straight as possible before moving on to the next strip.
Getting a clean corner was something I was unsure about since it wasn't a right angle but it ended up being simple.
Step One: Be sure your two strips overlap where they meet and then pull back the top strip. Trim the bottom strip with scissors so that it won't stick out from under the top strip.
Step Two: Place your top strip back in place and be sure to double check it doesn't have the bottom strip peeking out.
Step Three: Make a mark by folding your top strip back until it creases along the line you want to cut or mark it lightly with a pencil or chalk and then cut off your excess.
If you cut a little too much you can easily fix the look of your line by cut another piece of Easy Stripe tape and placing it on top. It smooths down nicely without it looking like a botch job. It's pretty forgiving that way!
It also comes with a little smoothing tool to help flatten out any air bubbles on your wall. I had to completely remove two of the strips after getting distracted and mismatching my arrows and they came off without any damage to the paint on the walls. I've not had the same luck with washi tape, so this was a major relief.
I am so thrilled with how much of an impact these simple little strips of red tape have in his room and I can't wait to share the rest soon! I'm sure you're already sensing a bit of a theme? I made sure Sebastian was involved in the direction his room makeover took and while it has a little more of a theme than we've ever done before, it's a theme we are both excited about and can easily adjust should he outgrow it.
Have you ever tried self-adhesive wallpaper or decals to make your space a little more special? I love how affordable this kind of option is when you don't want to make a big investment in wallpaper but still crave a little more pattern and design on your walls. Also, it always feels good to be able to knock out a project in an afternoon all by yourself! High five to all of you hard-working, creative mamas and papas out there.
-Rachel
P.S. I worked in partnership with Walls Need Love to bring you this Easy Stripe DIY and was compensated for this post. All opinions are 100% mine and I'm proud to work with a company that makes my life better because it makes it easy to share with my fantastic readers.
This look so great, and I don't know if it's just me but it feels like it makes the room seem bigger/longer.
Posted by: Elise Xavier | 04/01/2016 at 11:04 AM