wall stencil

I had a baby shower for a friend the other day (pictures to come soon) and some of the girls were asking about my dining room wall stencil so I thought this would be a good time to do a recap of the details for those who are interested.

When Dave and I first moved in a year ago we painted the living and dining room walls contemplation by Behr. It is similar to silver sage available at Restoration Hardware but I think contemplation has more blue in it which I love. The living and dining room are basically one large room divided only by a header so I wanted to add something to make the dining room seem different without overwhelming the small space.

Dining Room Fall 2010

I had purchased a stencil last April from royaldesignstudio.com to use in the powder room but the idea of having to stencil around a toilet and sink seemed overwhelming and not fun. I decided to try it in the dining room instead and I love how it turned out. I think this achieves a similar look of wallpaper but was a lot cheaper and I can just paint over it if I get tired of it. The stencil is called fabric damask and the stencil color that I used is lime light which is a shade lighter then contemplation. I started at the very bottom of the wall and just eyed where to place each stencil. I found this easier then having to map it all out first and to be honest I am not sure I have the patience to do that :) I also used a foam roller which worked great and was a lot quicker then using a brush. The only complaint/struggle that I had was paint seemed to build up on the stencil. Thankfully that happened on the wall which is mostly covered by the mirror and buffet. This might not have been an issue if I had done it all the same day but with a newborn I had to wait and work on the stencil when Dave was home to help watch the baby so this project took a few days to complete. Sorry these pictures are a little dark but it has been raining a lot here in Virginia.

Close up of the Damask pattern

There are a lot of amazing new stencils available at Royal Design Stencils (dying to use silk road suzani) that I wish that I could use them all over my house but I have to admit I am not sure if I have the patience and time to ever do this again given the amount of work that went into it. It is also definitely not perfect which I can live with but this might bother some people.  I do love the overall effect though and I think it makes a huge impact! Feel free to email me if you have any questions.