August 18, 2021

DIY Horizontal Stripes Accent Wall

Accent walls are fun and give a room character and a focal point. They are the perfect opportunity to incorporate your personality into your space. Horizontal stripes specifically make rooms look wider since its focus is on elongating the wall horizontally. It is a great design option for smaller rooms to help them appear larger in length. Stripes are also a chic and completely customizable design that comes in many variations to accommodate your personal aesthetic. And, it's super easy to do. I'll walk you through the process to paint professional looking stripes. 
 
In my apartment, I have black horizontal stripes across the entryway and the living room. These stripes were a lot of work, as it is a long process, but the results are completely worth it. I completed this project in 2 days, and I am so proud of the results.
 
Let's get right into it!
 
Here are the tools you'll need. I went to Home Depot and picked up all these items for less than $100 excluding the measuring tape and pencil. The Shurline Edger Pro is optional. Honestly, I didn't even use it and It also doesn't have great reviews online. I saw it in-person at the store and I said let's try this. This tool is supposed to make painting the edges easier, but I can't say if it's helpful or not. It's currently sold out in Home Depot but it's in stock at Walmart. The clear gloss is crucial. I cannot stress this enough. This is the secret ingredient to razor sharp lines that will look professional and mesmerizing. It's not shown in the picture but it is linked here.
Tools You'll Need:

Step One:
The Design
Make sure you know what you want. Decide on the color of paint and the quantity of stripes. This is important because it affects the aesthetic of the room and the impact of the design. The more stripes you aim for on a wall, the busier the room feels and the smaller the stripes. The lesser the stripes, the wider they are and the cleaner the look. In my honest opinion, I wouldn't recommend stripes wider than 12 inches. More than 12 and they'll look too wide, too bulky and just not visually pleasant.
 
When planning your striped accent wall there are two things for you to keep in mind:
 
Think about what mood do you want to convey
Both design and color play a big role in setting the mood. Warmer colors create a cozy environment and cool colors open up a space for more of an airy feel. Narrow stripes are busy and wide stripes are clean.  
 
Consider the architectural challenges of the space
If it's a small space, horizontal stripes can help elongate the room. Vertical stripes are great to emphasis height.
 
Whatever you decide, in order for your design to work you need to land on an odd number of stripes. You always want your stripes to start and end on the same color, to achieve a cohesive design. You'll also want to start the pattern by painting the first stripe your accent color and then every other stripe. If you start with white, it doesn't look as nice. Your wall color is your base color. My wall is off-white, so my design will be black and white. It helps to get a notebook and draw a sketch to visualize. I am doing 9 horizontal stripes, so my design will have 5 black stripes and 4 white stripes from floor to ceiling.  
Step Two:
Measure the Wall
The first thing you'll want to do is measure the wall's height using your measuring tape.
Here is a photo of the entryway wall where I'll be painting the horizontal stripes. I will be stretching the stripes across both walls for drama and impact. It's going to look so good. I am so excited.
Remember, measure the height of your wall. My wall measures 96 inches. I want 9 horizontal stripes for my design. To determine the width of each stripe, divide the wall height (96) by the number of stripes (9). Each of my stripes will measure 10.66 inches. I am rounding this down to 10.5 inches. This small change will not be noticeable, and It'll make it so much easier when drawing the straight lines on the wall since it's more of an exact measurement.
Step Three:
Mark Your Stripes
Now that you know the width of your stripes you can start marking them on the wall. Like in the photo below, start at the bottom and move vertically placing a mark every 10.5 inches until you reach the top. These lines will tell you where to place the tape and will serve as your point of reference when you use your laser level to extend the line all across the wall.  
Use your laser level to line up your painters tape. To do this, place the level on the outer most edge of the wall making sure the laser lines up with the mark and extends straight down toward the end of the wall. Start at the first mark from the top. Take your Frogtape up against the laser and place down the tape until you reach the end as shown below.
 
You can also choose to draw the line across the wall with a pencil first before placing down the painter's tape. Personally, I feel like it's an extra unnecessary step that is very time consuming.
THIS IS IMPORTANT
How you place the tape on the wall matters. It is crucial!
 
Carefully apply your painter's tape along the outside edge of each laser mark. Press down firmly on the inner edges of the tape to seal the hold and create crisp, clean lines. Repeat until you've covered the entire area. 
Step Four:
Seal Your Painter's Tape
To achieve a crisp, clean, professional looking design you want to prevent color from bleeding underneath the tape. To prevent this, I covered the inner edge of the painter's tape for each stripe to be painted with clear gloss. A light layer of clear gloss will really seal down the tape and give you straight sharp lines. Let the gloss dry over night before painting your accent stripes. 
 
When ready to paint, make sure to overlap your painting onto the painter’s tape.
Step Five:
Painting Your Accent Stripes
Originally, I wanted to cover the entire wall in stripes. In the end, I decided to only paint the middle three. Primarily because I figured if I hated it, I could always add them later on.
 
I added 2 coats of black paint to each stripe. This is based on your own personal preference.
 
Please Note:
  • Remove the tape while the paint is still wet
  • Pull the tape towards you when removing it

End Results
Gorgeous precise horizontal stripes that will take your decor to the next level.
 
Entryway:
Living Room:
Live beautifully,
 
xoxo,
Iliana