Decorative Painting Techniques: Striping

Stripes give your room the effect of expensive wallpaper at a fraction of the cost, and affect the way you perceive a room.

A simple and creative decorating technique you can use is to stripe your walls. Stripes give the effect of expensive wallpaper, but at the fraction of the cost. In addition, stripes can affect the way you perceive a room. Vertical and horizontal stripes affect the how you view the size of the room, while bold and subtle stripes affect the mood of the room. This guide will help you decide what kinds of stripes to choose.

Vertical stripes

Vertical stripes are an excellent effect to use in a room with a low ceiling where you would like to visually add more height. In the same way vertically striped pants make your legs look longer, vertical stripes on your walls will make them appear longer as well. To decide how wide your stripes should be, you should go by the size of the room. If the room is a large, then your stripes should be wide. This will keep the room from looking too busy and cut down on the amount of stripes you have to paint. You can decide to paint pinstripes or alternating thin and wide stripes around the room for a more formal look, or evenly spaced stripes for a casual effect.

Horizontal stripes

Horizontal stripes painted on your walls will make your room appear larger. This is true whether you paint one large stripe around the center of the room, a series of stripes, or stripes from the floor to the ceiling. Keep in mind that wide stripes will visually lower the ceiling while thinner stripes may create extra height in the room as well.

Bold stripes

Bold stripes are great for children’s playrooms, basement recreation rooms, or any room you want to appear lively and fun. Bold stripes also work well in formal rooms. For example, bold green or red stripes are often used in the dining room. To make your stripes bolder, use contrasting colors in your design.

Subtle stripes can be achieved by using different shades of the same color or by a technique called sheen striping. The purpose of using subtle stripes is to give the room more visual interest while keeping a calm relaxed atmosphere. Subtle stripes are great in the bedroom to create a relaxing atmosphere, or in any casually designed room in the house. One thing you may not realize is you can have bold colored walls with a subtle striped effect using the sheen stripe technique. To create sheen stripes paint the walls with eggshell paint of any color. Once your paint is dry, measure and mark your stripes with tape and paint on a clear coat of satin or gloss paint.

Tools and tricks to help you get perfect stripes:

• Use an electronic level to save time when making horizontal stripes.

• Use high quality painters tape. Regular masking tape may pull up your base coat.

• Use a ruler and pencil to create straight lines before applying tape.

• For vertical stripes, use a plumb line to make sure the stripes are level even if the room is not.

• Make sure the first coat of paint is completely dry. You will want to wait 24 to 48 hours before adding your stripes to the wall.

(Featured article from: Home and Interior Improvement Textbook)