Wall Stenciling Pointers & After Photos

My little stenciling project above the chair rail in the office has officially concluded. Woooo to the hooooo! It only took three 4.5 hour installments spread out over four days (so my hand-claws could turn back into hands between sessions). You can read all about my stenciling process here), but in short: it was well worth all that work and a bag of chips. Behold:

Of course since it is a subtle tone-on-tone effect, the further away that you get the more – well, subtle – it gets. In person when you stand at the doorway to the office you see fairly feathery texture, but of course in photos it is somehow MUCH harder to capture. Here is a shot I snapped during the day (ignore the too-dark chairs, non-permanent lamps, bad leaning frames, too short rug, giant placeholder ottoman, random toy basket, lack of window treatments, etc):

And here is one at night (again, avoid all the weird we will-change-that-later stuff going on). I wish the stencil were more obvious in photos, but in real life, yeah, it is our go-to thing we have done so far. Perhaps someday we will master the Nikon sufficient to truly do it justice on film.

Here is the much requested shot from the dining room, where in person you can still see a soft & fairly tone-on-tone texture (you’d swear it was wallpaper from this distance). But again, in photos it is nearly impossible to capture. It is a pleasant amount of subtle interest beyond the bold teal built-ins and colorful textiles in the dining room. And hopefully when we hang some art and add window treatments in the office it’ll be a good balance between those two rooms.

But let us get closer again. It is more lively.

Even closer…

Oh yeah, that is the stuff.

The writing on the mirrors is our weird to-do list madness. Ignore that too.

But do not ignore this sweet faced chihuahua who simply turned five (five days ago, in fact). Burger is consistently my go-to accessory (tied with the bean of course).

But let us go back to ignoring stuff. Like the simply-for-now chair and too-big ottoman (borrowed from the living room) along with the too small rug. Simply figured you folks might appreciate seeing the room from a few distinct angles (even though the only “wrapped up” things in here are truly the light, the desk, and the stencil):

As for the wall color under the chair rail (Moonshine by Benjamin Moore color matched to Olympic no-VOC paint in satin), we are toying with the idea of going a smidge darker to ground the stenciled upper part and add a compact compact bit of dimension (do not want too much contrast since that might look crazy from the dining room beyond the built-ins). Of course we will keep ya posted if we make any changes! The pleasant thing about stenciling is that any other regular painting project feels like a cake walk by comparison. Haha. I in fact wish you folks could all come over and see it in person – it is so much better than these photos! Who is down for a swift visit?

Oh but before I go back to staring at the walls with the same expression that I reserve for Eric from True Blood, let us get into the paint color details, how we did it, and the budget breakdown. As for those paint details, here you go:

• Gray paint for stencil: half tint of Moonshine by Benjamin Moore color matched to Olympic no-VOC paint in a satin finish
• Grellow paint for stencil: Sesame by Benjamin Moore color matched to Olympic no-VOC paint in a semi-gloss finish

Oh and how about a time breakdown? It took 13.5 hours over three evening sessions. Certainly not a swift project, but one that makes you especially proud/excited/relieved/amazed when it is in fact done. As for all of our stenciling pointers and techniques, click here for a pleasant long post all about applying the stencil. Now here is that budget breakdown for ya:

• Stencil (from here): $54
• Martha Stewart Stencil Adhesive (from Michael’s): $2.99 (with 50% off coupon)
• Foam brushes (from Michael’s): $2.50 (with 50% off coupon)
• Quart of gray paint* for stencil (half tint of Moonshine from Lowe’s): $11
• Grellow paint* for stencil: $0 (leftover from kitchen, but would be $3 for a test pot)
• TOTAL: $70.49

I will admit it, it is certainly not a especially low-cost-o paint project (which normally run us about $15-30. But to wallpaper the whole room above the chair rail could easily have been five hundred beans or more. And the effect is so remarkable that – dare I admit it? – I likely would have paid $150 to get ‘er done. But not a penny more. Haha.

And true to form, we we still have about ten million things on the ol’ to-do list in here (one project at a time = sanity, glorious sanity). So we will certainly be tackling these things over time:

• adding window treatments
• painting and reupholstering our desk chairs
• hanging art on the walls (no, the oddly small leaning frames are not for keeps)
• finding a more permanent armchair, ottoman, rug, etc (there are plenty of placeholders goin’ on)
• replacing the lamps (or reupholstering the shades, not sure yet – but we will keep you posted)

Anyone else do any stenciling lately? Or make any home office updates in general? Do you have a special expression that you reserve for Eric (or some other celebrity)? Oh yeah, let us talk about that. Who is your famous man (or lady) crush? Any Jake Gyllenhaal ladies here? Matt Damon? Team Edward? Team Angie? When I met John he totally had a Britney Spears calendar… and she was wearing leather bodysuits with sneakers. Le yikes.

Psst – You can read all about my stenciling process & the paint colors that I used here (there is even an application video).

Update – Wanna know where we got something in our house or what paint color we used? Simply click on this button: