Monday, September 27, 2010

Hoo-ray Stripes!

Hi friends! Usually I draft the posts but today I thought I'd let the hubby in on some blogging action. We've got a fun new project to share, so without further ado....

Hello out there- it's David, the other half of Ten June. So far, I've just watched over my lovely wife's shoulder as we got this blog on the road. But today, I decided I'd give it a shot myself and on what better a topic than the lovely stripes that we adorned our office walls with? And while no, this post has nothing to do with beer, I can say that yes, I'm a guy, so I had to start off my post with a little beer reference... Red Stripe Beer commercial anyone? It cracks me up every time. Hoo-ray for our stripes.

I have to post the disclaimer that we undertook this project pre-blogging and thus, we're sans mid-project pictures... so, with that said, I'll just have to describe it it for you.

If you recall from the "Before and Afters" in our House Tour, you will remember that all of the main room walls in the house were painted the same blah neutral color. Here's our office "before."


Just like all of the other neutral wall colors in the house, we decided right after moving in that this color had to go. We decided on a darker neutral in Olympic's Dusty Trail. As we painted the living room and hall, we contemplated what to do with the office. We knew that we loved the Dusty Trail color, but we also wanted something that would stand out and make the office a fun and inviting space. Michelle came across a stripe painting tutorial at Young House Love (our favorite go-to blog), and boom - we found what we were looking for. So we went for it- contrasting stripes with our beloved Dusty Trail and its complementary cousin Off White. We chose the complementary stripe color from the same paint sample chip as Dusty Trail to ensure a proper hue match. YHL suggests that you paint from two colors that are close in tone, but we wanted more of contrast and so we chose the darkest and lightest colors on the paint chip's spectrum.

So on to the fun part - the STRIPES. In preparation for the stripes, we painted the entire room in Olympic's Off White to establish a clean slate. Once the base was on the wall, the fun/hours of math/re-taping four million times to get a straight line/are-we-going-crazy-because-we're-trying-to-paint-horizontal-stripes-on-the-wall began.

We decided that we wanted to have an odd number of stripes so that the darker Dusty Trail would contrast against the white crown moulding at the top of the wall and the base board at the bottom of the wall. It took us awhile visualizing the stripes to help us to decide on the number that we wanted - turns out 9 was our lucky number. We divided our wall height by 9 and marked a light pencil notch on the wall at each measurement point.

Then I experimented with a couple of methods to set out our game plan for the stripes (taping paper to the wall? way too complicated. using a laser leveler? not accurate enough) and found that a good ol' fashioned tape measure was the best way to go. Michelle and I laid out the stripes by measuring from the ceiling down to the floor every three feet or so. The reason for this was to allow for shorter tape runs (trying to run a wall's length of painters tape gets a little messy) and to allow for "checks" for the proper dimensions of the stripes. I'm not going to lie- it was kind of difficult to remember which stripe was being painted and whether the tape had to go above or below the mark. When you're taping, you have to tape above the stripe line and below the stripe line and it ends up a little hairy looking (ie. like you've completely mismeasured the entire thing).

After a couple of hours of measuring and taping the walls, it was time to start rolling. As the paint went up, the stripes became visible and the effect we were looking for was coming to fruition. I'll point out a key step to the process - tape removal. It is crucial that the tape be removed while the paint is still wet to ensure clean, crisp stripes. Otherwise, as the paint dries, it will bleed under the tape. And yes, we learned that the hard way.

After all that work, we were really excited with the results. Here are the stripes, in their glory.


As you can see, the process was fairly easy and offers all kinds of character to brighten up a space.
 



We like the fact that the stripes peak through the view from our living room. We definitely got the fun character we were looking for. Cheers to Mic for her great idea!

So there we have it! David's first blog post ever and our amaaaazing office makeover. In the words of David, hoo-ray stripes!





Linking to:

And featured on Remodelaholic!

22 comments:

lauren@{burns house} said...

I absolutely LOVE these horizontal stripes! Thank you for sharing the tutorial link...I'm going to bookmark it! Until I have the opportunity to paint some of my own though, I'll just drool and be jealous of yours:)

-Kasey said...

All the more reason I want to paint something in my house with stripes!

Katie said...

Love Love Love this, so much more interesting and bright!

In this wonderful life... said...

soooo cute!! love the stripes!

Maryann @ Domestically-Speaking said...

I LOVE a stripe... perfect for an office!

Margitta said...

Oh! I've been thinking of hrizontal stripes recently! Now I'm really eager to try this. The room looks awsome!

Tammy said...

Looks great! Love, love the stripes.

the cape on the corner said...

that looks great, i love the color you used. what a sweet space.

www.thecapeonthecorner.blogspot.com

House of Smiths said...

I LOVE this! I need to just take the plunge and DO these stripes somewhere in my house! They always look so fab!

Consider me your newest follower :)
Love your style!

~Shelley Smith
houseofsmiths.blogspot.com

ASHLEY said...

WOW! I love the stripes! Well done!

Jen said...

This looks AMAZING!!!
Now I'm trying to figure out where I can do stripes!
I'm a new follower!

Lisa said...

1. I love that your husband is posting on your blog! Awww!

2. The stripes in the room are gorgeous! You did a beautiful job!

BEACH BUNGALOW said...

Looks beautiful; I love it!

Sue @ Beach Bungalow
xo

Linda in AZ * said...

* So thrilled to "find" your blog, ESPECIALLY since I have been wanting our painter to do these stripes & he's been a little hesitant... NOW he can see "the finished project" as well as how Y"ALL accomplished it! You did a BEAUUUUUTIFUL job here! So glad you shared~~~ Many thanks!!!

Linda in AZ *
bellesmom1234@comcast.net

Cassie {Hi Sugarplum!} said...

SO SO GREAT!!! Stripes are the easiest/cheapest way to breathe life in to a room. Glad to have found your blog!

xo, cassie

Courtney {a thoughtful place} said...

I can't stop looking at these stripes! I am in love! That office is dreamy. Thanks so much for stopping by my little blog! I am so excited to have you. I am smitten with your blog and the design of it. Wow. Anxious for naptime so I can dive in! Following for sure!

Envy My Cooking said...

I love what you did! great job. If you need new recipes come on over to our site and check us out

Sixty-Fifth Avenue said...

Love this room! And how fun to let your husband whip up a post! Great job guys!

Londen

qadesign.jenna said...

thanks for featuring my print in the book shelf! this room looks GREAT!

Jennifer said...

Wow! Those are some cool stripes! Can you come over and do that at my house???

modern jane said...

Awesome! hmmm... where can I put some stripes???

Allison aka Half of VAMH said...

PERFECTION!

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