How I Created My Laundry Room Wall (and a Giveaway)~

This post is sponsored by Cutting Edge Stencils.

The first thing that I wanted to do in my laundry room makeover was to add some color.  And I also really wanted to use a trellis pattern.  However, the idea of investing a lot of money in trellis wallpaper for the space wasn't very appealing.  So I decided to try my hand at stencilling. 

Cutting Edge Stencils offered exactly the pattern I was looking for (The Allover Trellis), so I decided to give it a try.  I had done some stencilling before, but I had never tried an all over pattern like this one, so I was a bit nervous.  Turns out I didn't need to be.  It was actually pretty easy.  The instructions that came with the stencil, as well as the video instructions offered by Cutting Edge (you can find those here), were extremely helpful.  And today, I'm going to share with you how I used their methods to create my fab.u.lous wall.

First things first, I had a bit of an obstacle to contend with that most people wouldn't have when stencilling a wall, and that was the shelf that was already there.  I couldn't remove it, so I had to work around it.  I was lucky in that the placement of the shelf was just about perfect as far as the measurement of the stencil went, so it was kind of like I stencilled two separate walls instead of one that had a shelf on it.  (Whew!)

Supplies...

1. Stencil
2. Painter's Tape and Spray Adhesive (not pictured)
3. Small Foam Roller
4. Paint Brush  - I would have a few sizes on hand
5. Paint - I used the existing wall color as my background color, but just  make sure that whether you paint both the background color and the pattern color, or just the pattern color, you have some of the background color on hand for touch-ups.
6. Paint Pan or Dish
7. Paper Towels
8. I also used a clip-on level to keep  my stencil straight.

Process and Tips...

1.  If you are using a fairly large stencil like I did, it will come rolled up in a mail tube.  Make sure you unroll it and allow it to uncurl for a while before you stencil.    This is not a completely necessary step, but it will make your life much easier (trust me.)

2.  I found it to be easiest to start from one corner of the wall at the top.  You can choose to use either painter's tape or spray adhesive to attach the stencil to the wall.  I actually used a combination of both because I found that it worked best in my particular situation.

3.  Once you have the stencil in place, load your roller with paint.  Then make sure you unload as much as possible, by rolling the loaded roller over a paper towel.  If you have too much paint on the roller, it WILL bleed underneath the stencil and you will end up having to do quite a bit of touch up.  (Not that I learned that the hard way or anything.)

4.  Once you have rolled the paint to the color you like, you can go ahead and remove the stencil, no need to allow the paint to dry first. 

5.  You DO need to allow it to dry to the touch before you can replace the stencil next to it (this is only the case if you use an allover stencil like I did, because part of the pattern actually interlocks over the previous stencil in order to create the seamless look).    But once you have run the same stencil a couple of times you can move back and forth by doing one run below and then one to the side and so on, which makes the process move much more quickly.

6.  For the bottom, edges, and top of the wall, I'm going to refer you to the video instructions from Cutting Edge, because I think they can do a better job of explaining it than I can.  :-)

I will tell you that the process is really quite easy...even for a beginner like me.  But, I will also admit that I had to do a bit of touching up because I didn't unload my paint roller as much as I should have.  However, if you have a small brush and extra base color, touching up isn't too difficult.  I would suggest trying the entire process out on a large piece of cardboard or something similar first, just to help you get the hang of it before you start working on your wall.   

Oh, and one final note on my personal experience.....I was worried about cleaning up the stencil.  I thought it would be a  long process.  But it was actually very easy.   I went ahead and let the paint dry on my stencil, and then I was able to simply peel most of it away.  For the little bit of paint that was left - which was mostly on the edges of the cut outs - I simply ran the stencil under warm water, and used a rubber scraper to easily remove the paint. 

THE GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED
So, now that I have *hopefully* convinced you that you want to try stencilling, I've got a great GIVEAWAY for you from the good people at Cutting Edge Stencils!

They are offering one reader of The Shabby Nest a free stencil of their choice (valued at up to $50) from the Cutting Edge website! 

Here's how to enter:

1. Please go to the Cutting Edge website, then come back and tell me your favorite stencil design.

For additional entries you can:

2. Like Cutting Edge on Facebook then leave me an additional comment
3. Follow Cutting Edge on Pinterest then leave me an additional comment
4. Follow Cutting Edge on Twitter then leave me an additional comment

The fine print:  Please note that each comment counts as one entry.  So you MUST leave an additional comment for each method of entry in order for it to be valid.    Please also note that this giveaway is only open to residents of the USA.

Thanks and Good Luck!!

*I was given my stencil and stencilling kit for free in exchange for my review.  However, the opinions expressed in this post are are 100% mine.*

xoxo
Wendy

Just in case you missed anything: Here are all the Posts about the Laundry Room Redo:

Laundry Room Inspiration

Laundry Room Reveal: Before and After

How to Create Personalized Laundry Bins (and My Laundry Strategy)

Easy Way to Create No-Smudge Chalkboard Art

How I Created my Laundry Room Wall