Gingham paint effect for walls

With just a little old fashioned elbow grease and know-how, you can create beautiful striped walls and stencilled patterns. Striped walls help give smaller rooms a sense of height and ordinary rooms some visual interest.

 

YOU WILL NEED:

Paint for colourwash (paint and scumble glaze mix)
Bucket
Sponge
Tape measure
Pencil
Masking tape

HERE'S HOW:

Step 1
Think about how wide you want your gingham stripes to be . Measure your wall from side to side then divide the total width of the wall by an odd number. This way you will end up with a darker stripe on each side of the wall for balance.

GOOD TO KNOW
Mix 5 parts scumble glaze to one part paint. If you want a darker colour, add slightly more paint.

Step 2
Measure from the top of the wall down, make a small mark to indicate the position of the stripes, then repeat across the wall every 90cm.

Step 3
Tape ceiling and skirting first and then the vertical stripes. Placing tape for the stripes after the perimeter allows you to remove the stripe tape and still have the perimeter in place for the second set of stripes.

Step 4
Be sure to put the tape on the side of the mark that is going to be the lighter stripe. This way when you put on your first vertical colourwash it will be the size of the stripe you measured, NOT the size of the stripe minus the width of the tape.

Step 5
Wipe inside every other stripe. After the colourwashing remove tape at a 45-degree angle, then let dry.

Step 6
Repeat that process horizontally - across the width of the stripes and place tape horizontally across the wall.

Step 7
By using colourwash, you will achieve a deeper look where the stripes intersect. Now you can go over the whole wall once done to create a one, two and three coat, which looks great too.

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