Title: Spare Bedroom Transformation
Lindsay offers some helpful tips — and some pitfalls to avoid — in her humorous account of her spare bedroom transformation. Click above for the pics and head below for all the instructions. Give Lindsay a THUMBS UP if you find this project helpful....
TOOLS:
Paint
Painter's tape
STEPS:
1: Take before picture
2: Trace interlocking squares all over your wall. I used a 11x14 piece of heavy card stock. I taped lines on the card stock to indicate where the squares would overlap. This step actually doesn't take that long. Like an hour, tops. What was most frustrating was finding pencils.
3: This is the worst step. I'm not going to lie to you. Taping was the most tedious job. Budget a few hours for this. You have to tape each square individually. You have to make sure the corners of your squares are sharp (not jagged) otherwise it will look like crap when you take the tape off. You also have to make sure your lines are STRAIGHT. I would strongly recommend no more then one glass of wine during this step. Learn from my mistakes!
4: Which I did NOT do. Paint over the tape with your base color (the color of your existing wall. This will seal the tape and prevent white paint from seeping under tape which causes GREAT frustration when you remove tape only to see you'll now need to find some way of painting straighter lines in the base color. Do NOT...as I did, believe you are saving time by not doing this step. Do NOT let your friend Wolf Blass convince you, that you are the most brilliant person alive and therefore can ignore the experts....
5: Give the wall 2-3 coats of the new color. Very easy. Especially if your new color is the same as the ceiling and trim (this means you can go hog wild with the paint roller and no one will notice)
6: Let wall dry and peel away tape. Feel initial panic over the amount of touch ups you'll need to do because you ignored steps 3 and 4. I did NOT make sure my lines were straight, I did NOT seal the tape and I did NOT make sure there were no jaggedy bits of tape in the corners of the squares.
7: Take an hour to do touch ups so your husband doesn't nag when he gets home.
RESOURCES:
I used Benjamin Moore's Cloud White and Cobblestone in the Aura paint (Low VOC).
Give Lindsay a THUMBS UP if you find this project helpful....
© 2009 Apartment Therapy
wow! I thought this only happened to me!
Looks great! I'm feeling inspired!
view Heather C's profile
what a coincidence! i'm currently painting (and blogging about) the same pattern in my tiny hallways. you are right - the taping is the most frustrating part and i must admit i've been doing it slowly for a few days...
great tip about painting the base colour first. i wasn't going to do this but i think i may now....
great job!
view kiwi's profile
very cool!! makes me want to do (attempt) this treatment to my bedroom wall as well...
view SweetChicEventsChicago's profile
you obviously have worked so hard and have done such a beautiful job but just thinking of doing this and the patience it must require......gives me a clutched feeling in my chest!
thanks for sharing!
view sassydo's profile
I have a question about how you traced the squares using the cardboard guide... did you start from the top? bottom? middle? And did you just "eyeball" it and they all turned out pretty evenly spaced?
As you can tell, I am seriously considering this project, haha
view SweetChicEventsChicago's profile
Wow, looks great with the bed frame too.
view nothinlikeadame's profile
Thanks so much! I've got all the details of the project on my blog (including the bed painting fiasco!)
http://finethingsandbigdreams.blogspot.com/2009/02/spare-bedroom-transformation.html
SweetChic: I started tracing the squares in the top corner...for no particular reason. It might have been better to start in the middle actually, because my lines on one side of the room are not exactly equal to the second.
Thanks for your support!!
view lindsaybowman's profile
Looks great Lindsay!
view jlaskey's profile
Do you think someone could give a breakdown of the drying times?
I know its usually stated on the can, but I guess I am most curious as to how long you let it dry after the final coat before you peeled off the tape? Or do you peel it off immediately before its dry so it doesn't peel or chip while removing the tape?
view adamwa's profile
Re: Drying Times:
I waited between 30-60 minutes between coats. Just enough time to give the bed frame a coat of paint. I was pleasently surprised by how fast it dried.
-Lindsay
view lindsaybowman's profile
WOW! This is a dramatic change. The "before" doesn't look so bad either. I think it takes the most courage to make a design change when you're starting from a place that's already comfortable.
I suppose that could be applied to other areas of life too.
view StudioStarter's profile
I think this project looks amazing! Great before and after!
Well done Lindsay!
view sineadlynch's profile
Absolutely fabulous!!! I have all the inspiration I need to re-do my guest room... on a budget too! Thank you for your wonderful ideas!!!
view SkiBunny's profile
Great how to!!!
I'll add to #4 - don't let the marketing geniuses at Frog Tape convince you that you can skip step #4 because their tape is superior to blue painter's tape and won't leak. Because it will leak. Like a sieve. And you'll be sorry.
view LilyC's profile
I am impressed Lindsay.
view sandrab's profile
Oh my God, I could never. Never. I am wholly incapable. So. Lindsay, if you happen to live in SF, c'mon over sometime. I have wine and -- o coincidence! -- some paint and tape...
view rosenatti's profile
Wow, I love it. I absolutely love your blog too. Totally relatable and too funny.
view lisalehane's profile
I am in awe of this project--its more ambitious than I would attempt and I admire your ability!
I saw something this am on TV that might be helpful for this project....a t-square level that shot a laser line...good for lining up both the horizontal and vertical. I thought it was on The Early Show but I can't find it on their website-sorry, but it might be worth trying to track it down.
Also, did you smooth the tape edges with a credit card or burnishing tool of some kind?
Again, kudos for a terrific idea and execution!
view girlattorney's profile
That is fabulous and funky and I love the slight irregularity that makes it breathe instead of being rigid gridspace... but never put an OCD person in there or they may go bonkers! :D
view Kaete's profile
this is gorgeous! the photo of your final product looks fantastic. thanks for sharing such a wonderful diy with educational tips!
view eatsuep's profile