Having a baby is always the cue to decorate a room for your new bundle of joy.
A while ago a reader wrote that a friend of hers was adopting a little baby girl from Vietnam. The friend’s husband wanted to surprise his wife when she returned with their baby and have the nursery painted all fresh and new.
The neighbor’s request was for stripes with flat and satin of the same color. What the reader needed to know from me was how to measure for the stripes?
Note: I found this cute baby nursery with stripes on a “Good Dad” Website! What a great job he did for his new baby…
Back to the nursery with stripes:
Her husband got a 1×8 piece of wood that she could use as a guide, but it had been so long since she had done stripes, she wondered what I thought about taping and all. Basically she wanted to know if I use a pencil and make the lines first, then do the tape, or simply tape.
She really wanted this to be perfect for her friend and her friend’s husband. The good news is this was the easiest way to do stripes – flat and shiny in the same color – and such a great idea! An simple way to jazz up the room with the least amount of headache!
Several ways of “drawing” the stripes are available:
- I use a watercolor pencil for all my drawing on walls. Because it is water soluble… it can be just washed off if I make a mistake. That is, as long as something hasn’t been painted over it. That’s KEY!!
- Using a laser level can be extremely helpful in getting straight lines. Yes, you can get the lines to go up and down!!!
- A string hung at the top of the wall with a push pin and with a washer tied to the bottom. It’ll hang in a nice straight line that way and you can secure it at the bottom. Then tape along the edge for your straight line.
- Tape makes the job so much easier! It’s a pain to put up and take off, but the actual painting goes really fast.
- If you use tape, remember to be extra careful when removing the tape, as it can pull off “all” the paint with it and make a mess. Slow and at an angle!
Instead of using a flat and shiny paint for these stripes in the same color, simply paint the entire wall in one finish (flat) and then do the stripes in a clear sealer with the other finish (matte, satin or semi gloss). This way you don’t have to worry about bleed under the tape… it won’t show!
A little hint about using the water color pencil to draw your lines first before taping – the water color pencil should be put on very VERY lightly and as close to the wall color as possible. Once you put your tape up use a sponge or damp rag and wash the remaining lines off. If you paint over them they’ll bleed through and ruin your paint job.
Remember… draw them very very lightly, use a color as close to the wall color as possible, and remove any “remnants” before applying any paint.
Avoid Bleed Under Painters Tape
Now there are several ways you can avoid “bleed” under the tape. This is REALLY important if you are using different colors. One way is to simply paint the base coat along the edges of the tape to fill in those little gaps between the tape and the wall. Again…paint lightly.
Shortly after you’ve painted the base coat gently along the edge of the tape around your room, paint your new color in-between the tape. You really don’t have to wait long. Then as soon as you are done with the painting in-between your tape lines – all the way around the room – you can start to remove the tape…slowly and carefully.
And remember, the best tape to use is the blue tape with the orange inner core… It’s the least adhesive and made for “just painted” walls. Check out this blog post for more… http://www.thatpainterlady.com/stop-paint-from-bleeding-through-painters-tape/
Oh yeah, the sealer is available at Home Depot or Lowes. I always use Polycrylic brand.
The Peaceful Nursery: Preparing A Home For Your Baby With Feng Shui
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Can you paint over wallpaper liner?
We are trying to paint over wood paneling that has groves in it. We have filled in the groves with joint compound and sanded it smooth. What would you recommend next. Terry
Yes you can. But it is important to make sure the seams are secure. Home Supply stores do sell a specific product for wallpaper seams. It is a type of glue that comes in a bottle with a long tip so you can get under the seams easily. You can try that. And then to finish it off – put a layer or 2 of joint compound on all the seams and then sand and prime before painting. The last thing you want to have to deal with later are the seams coming apart because then you will have to fix them and paint again. So you might as well do the job right the first time.
You must seal the surface! Very important! But first make sure that all the dust from sanding has been removed from the walls. If not. this can cause bubbling later on when applying the paint (especially if it is latex).