As you guys know already, Melissa and I both have "builder-grade homes," meaning we chose as much as we could for them, but unfortunately we had little to no options for customization. They're good, but they need some love from us to be great! That's where our DIYing comes in- because who wants to pay a contractor to do something when you could learn to do it yourself!?
Today I'll show you literally (Chris Traeger, anyone?) the quickest, easiest DIY I've done: a hand painted accent wall.
Quick backstory: My son's bathroom is my least favorite room in the house. The counter tops are terrible (I swear the one I chose was white, but the one that ended up on the vanity is yellow), the light fixture is something you'd find in a house that hasn't been touched since 2000, and overall it was just pretty boring. It needed some help!
I made the decision to do this project in about ten minutes; I already had some old paint downstairs in a color that I thought might work, I had paintbrushes from a high school art class that I've carted around to every place I've lived since then, some frog tape, and a cardboard box (AKA a section of my son's makeshift BeyBlade arena- don't worry, UPS will be back tomorrow with a replacement box for him). Good to go!
Getting ready:
Conundrum #1: My paint was 2.5 years old and there was about 1/4 of the gallon left, so that stuff was THICK. Because I love instant gratification and can't wait for anything, there was no way I could be patient and go to the store to buy new paint. I looked up online what household items I could use to thin paint and my boy Bob Vila said I could use WATER. How did I not know this!?! So I dumped some paint into a paper bowl and mixed water in until it was back to a consistency I could work with. We're back on!
Step #2: I can't take credit for this because I saw it on Pinterest, but I found that cardboard box in the garage (the coveted BeyBlade arena) and cut a triangle to use as a template for my lines to make sure they're at least semi-uniform.
After I started painting I also put lines to mark where my paint lines were starting and stopping. Nothing about this project is intended to be perfect! That's why I love it- no stress! The lines were just to give me an idea but not to make every single paint line the same size.
Step #3: Time to paint!
It's hard to give an exact timeframe for this project because I started and stopped three times based on my son's naps, my work schedule, and eating dinner. I'd guess all in all it took me about four hours start to finish to do an 8' tall by about 12' long wall with a double vanity. I did not remove the light fixture, I decided to just go around it as much as I could with full lines (so I didn't even get close to it like I would have if I tried to paint as if I took it off the wall). I stuck frog tape on the wall next to each column to make sure they were straight and I did not go behind the toilet (the hardest part of painting a bathroom!).
That's it! It was so easy and the perfect project for someone like me who has a relatively limited attention span.
The paint on the walls already is Sherwin Williams Crushed Ice (SW7647) and the lines are Sherwin Williams Colonial Revival Grey (SW2832, a blueish grey) done with a 3/4" flat paintbrush.
Before:
After:
I hope this inspires you to hand paint a wall in your home! If you do, leave us a comment showing your finished product, we'd love to see!!
XO,
Kate
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