| The next time you get the urge to hang | | | | then replicate those on your walls. |
| wallpaper, stop and minute and consider stenciling | | | | Stencil Ideas |
| your space instead. Stenciling your walls is an easy | | | | When you are stenciling a border around the edge |
| way to add some interest and design to the | | | | of a room, or maybe adding a chair rail accent |
| space without the hassle of hanging wallpaper. | | | | stencil, you need to lay down a guideline to make |
| Simple and Affordable | | | | sure that you stay straight. You can measure and |
| Wallpaper in a room can look fantastic, but it is | | | | draw a light line with a pencil, or you can snap a |
| much more labor intensive than stenciling. You can | | | | chalk line. Then you have a reference point to |
| get a pretty similar effect by stenciling your wall: | | | | position your stencil as you work your way |
| You can also add custom design combinations to | | | | around the room. You will be painting your stencil |
| your wall whether you are adding a border or | | | | design and then removing your stencil while the |
| stenciling the entire wall. Stencils allow you to | | | | paint is still wet. So be careful not to smudge the |
| simply add an accent to the wall, or they allow | | | | design as you remove the stencil. Then just |
| you to cover the wall in pattern. Both ways yield | | | | move your stencil to the next spot along your |
| an attractive result, and they are much quicker | | | | line, and stencil the next segment. If you are |
| and easier to do than handing wallpaper. | | | | doing more than one color in your stencil, you |
| Buy or Make | | | | should lay down the stencil for the first color, and |
| When you first start stenciling, it is probably easier | | | | then when it is dry, you can go back and stencil in |
| to buy your stencils, but as you become a little | | | | your second color. |
| more experienced you can easily create stencil | | | | One of the great advantages of stenciling over |
| designs of your own. To make your own stencils | | | | wallpaper is that you can easily paint over it later. |
| you simply draw or trace your design on plastic | | | | With wallpaper, you would have to remove all of |
| or acetate and cut it out. | | | | the wallpaper and all of the wallpaper glue before |
| Practice | | | | you could even think of painting your wall. |
| The first time that you stencil you may want to | | | | Stenciling is a very forgiving process as well. If |
| try a few practice stencils on an old piece of | | | | you make a mistake, you can simply paint over it |
| paper or wallboard. Then once you get the hang | | | | and do it again. By the same token, if you do not |
| of how much paint to load on your brush, you | | | | like your border when you are done, a simple |
| can take your newfound skill to the walls. As you | | | | coat of paint fixes the problem. Stenciling is just |
| experiment, notice which effects you prefer, and | | | | easier to update than wallpapers. |