As someone who is intimately familiar with stenciling a wall, I was blown away when I saw what Patricia Shakelford, aka Mrs. Blandings, hand painted in her dining room. After freehand sketching a pattern on the walls, Patricia created a breathtaking treatment with simple white paint. Check out the finished room after the jump…
First of all, Patricia, who blogs about life and style as Mrs. Blandings, started off with a gorgeous base color — Farrow & Ball's Folly Green. I was already in love with the room even before she took the next step. After Patricia tried a stencil she had purchased, she decided to just give it a go freehand. The stencil seemed monotonous and she thought freehand would make the project go faster (and be more fun along the way). She was probably right. The entire process only took one week! Meanwhile, I've been stenciling my living room walls for three weeks and I'm not even near being finished!
If you want to try your own hand at hand painting a similar pattern, check out all the details of Patricia's project on her blog — Mrs. Blandings: Dining Room How-To.
Images: Patricia Shackelford
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Comments (13)
So beautiful! Now that is one way to avoid having the same wallpaper as your neighbour.
LOVE how she used chalk to make her "pattern." So insprirational.
Absolutely gorgeous!
the clear instructions in the link are appreciated, not the gushing in the a/t description. a close-up of the finished product, at least to see texture changes, would be helpful.
Subtly magnificent.
However I'd like to see her go back with a cream, chartreuse or silver and just paint some highlights and accents on the forms. It would add depth and more of a sense of luxury.
Wow! This is very pretty!
Love it!
This was a super treatment. I am really impressed. Some people use a projector and trace the images from a book or electronic file.
That said, did anyone else notice that the price of that stencil was $1050! I don't care if those were Hong Kong dollars, that is still a wad a cash for a stencil. If it is Zimbabwe dollars, I stand corrected.
funner?
Thank you, jaygarf! Funner?? Egad. No wonder my college freshman students sound like such boneheads--it's becoming impossible to escape poor grammar and made-up words. *sigh*
On a lighter note, I am blown away by the paint job in this dining room.
Beautiful! So simple and sophisticated. It really brightens up the room.
It looks lovely, but I'm not sure about using art paint on a wall. I was gifted with a table my sister decorated with art paint (I think acrylic, but I'm not sure). After sanding it nearly to the wood, using two coats of primer and two coats of bright yellow paint, the outline of the decoration was still visible. Three years later, the very faint leftover color has leached through the paint and primer.
Oh, my goodness, thank you so much. Just to clarify - the image is of a Gracie hand painted wallpaper panel that cost over one thousand dollars. I'm foggy on the cost of the stencil but I think it was $125ish. I used the image for inspiration only. And, hmm...forewarned on the art store paint. We may have to live here forever.