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Painting Stripes in an Entryway

Excited, frustrated, skeptical, relieved, exhausted, excited. Yes, this is quite the range of emotions for a painting project, yet I managed to experience every single one while painting the stripes in my front entryway. This was a serious labour of love. It was just one of those projects where you scratch your head and say, “I thought that would have been easier…?” That said, both “J” and I are thrilled with the final result, so I thought I would share with you how we went about avoiding a striped disaster.

Measure, Tape, Go!

The whole process started few weeks ago on a lovely Saturday afternoon. Trying not to be distracted by the gorgeous weather was a task in itself, however “J” and I managed to start the dreaded taping. Since I am terrible at math, I left it up to “J” to determine the optimum width for each of the stripes based on the height of the wall. In most cases you would want the starting stripe (at the ceiling) and the ending stripe (at the floor) to be the same colour, but since our wall spreads over two different floor heights we decided to end with the accent colour. If I can recommend having only 1 tool that will make your life easier it’s a laser level… and two people. A laser level and two people. As for the tape, we used standard Scotch Blue Painters Tape.

Basecoat down, and level in hand, we starting taping. Had I not stopped to take a million pictures, it likely would have taken us only an hour. Then we let it sit… for an entire week! Not on purpose of course, it was just one of those “so-much-to-do, so-little-time” situations. It killed me every time I would glance over the see the perfectly taped lines… Finally the weekend rolled and I could start my master plan… or so I thought.

When Stripes Go Wrong

When I envision how I wanted this front entryway to look, very subtle stripes came to mind. And I knew subtle was the way to go when “J” came home one night telling me he didn’t like any of the stripes that I had posted on my blog that day – which albeit were a bit bold for my tastes as well.

My subtle-but-striking idea was going to be executed by filling in 5 of the stripes with glossy Para Latex Glaze, while the other 5 would stay flat. The first glossy stripe went on… a little thick and with a roller. I immediately knew this was not the way to go. The second glossy stripe went on… thin and light using a drybrush technique in long strokes. Again, I immediately knew this was not the way to go. My subtle glossy/flat stripe plan had been foiled.

Getting it Right with Plan B

After literally watching paint dry for an hour, I decided it was time to turn to Plan B. Although the stripes looked really good from far away, I knew I would not be able to live with those brush strokes, drip-marks and overlaps. After consulting with many of you on Twitter, “J” and I decided to move ahead with Plan B – painting the stripes in a complementary colour from the same palette.

This was a brilliant decision, and we couldn’t be happier with the results! Perfect, just perfect!

Let’s Talk About the Paint

For those of you who don’t know, earlier this year Para Paints warmly welcomed me into their Para Paint Blog Crew. And after taking close to 5 months to finalize my colour palette, I finally placed my first paint order late last month. I was slightly giddy when the paint arrived at my door – I was really excited to try it out.

You should also know I have painted a lot of houses… I mean a lot (almost borderlining on too many), so I know a good quality paint when I see one. This paint goes on like silk. No really – I have never painted with such a high quality paint. Consistent, excellent coverage, no heavy fumes, beautiful finish! And you know the best part? It only took 1 coat. Anything that can save me from doing multiple coats is all good in my books!

What do you guys think? Have you ever had a painting experience go bad? What did you do to turn it around?

Paint Source:
“Buried in Sand” Elite Suede in Flat by Para Paint // “Tiger Safari” Elite Suede in Flat by Para Paint

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