I had this idea about painting stripes in our 1970s basement. My dad painted stripes in my bedroom when I was a kid and I had this idea stuck in my head. Everyone I talked to tried to dissuade me, but I pursued.
This event is sponsored by the One Room Challenge and Better Homes and Gardens Magazine. This is what happened so far on my project in Week One, Week Two and Week Three.
Overall Painting Complete
We had the painter in last week who got rid of and patched and painted the stippled ceiling. Thank goodness.. Once we had a clean, painted surface, I was ready to add colour.
Planning for Stripes
Having an engineering brain on hand was helpful for me when planning the stripes. Once I had decided on the width of each stripe and the distance between, hubby created a jig for me to mark the lines on the wall.
I marked the first stripe around the room and then started taping off. Because I was making tick marks above my head, they were not all level. It was a crooked mess when I tried to apply the tape.
The next plan was to draw lines to apply the tape against. Hubby was dismayed at how crooked my tick marks were so I erased then all and we came up with our next plan.
Hubby was one of the ones who tried to talk me out of the stripes. So, after two failed attempts, we agreed on two stripes instead of four.
Hubby disappeared into the garage and returned with two straight edges in varying widths.
The Actual Plan for Stripes
So what we ended up doing was he traced around the first straight edge top and bottom to create the smaller stripe. I followed behind him with tape. Applying the tape was my easier with a straight line to follow.
Hubby started on the second stripe, but I felt that it should be thicker. So he went around and added another thickness of the straightedge he was using to create the second stripe.
Taping Off the Stripes
After the two lines were taped, I went around with a damp wash cloth to wipe off the pencil marks. When applying the tape, I left the pencil marks slightly exposed so that they could be removed.
Painting the Stripes
Painting the stripes was the easy part. I chose Benjamin Moore Athabasca for the top and Eternity for the bottom.
Hubby eventually agreed to the third stripe and took no time in marking it out for me. The third stripe is Benjamin Moore Demin Wash.
Other Progress
In other progress, I got out my black chalk spray paint and painted the the fire place tools, the light fixtures and I spray painted the edge of a mirror that we bought from Ikea.
The stencil arrived for the fireplace so I am going to get started on that right away.
Still to Come
We are still waiting for the carpet tiles and the wall paper to arrive.
In other news, Lola came downstairs to check out the project and she approves. She has been afraid to come into the basement for the most part.
Time is a ticking. Just two more weeks until the reveal.
Always
Leslie
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