Adventures in Stenciling.

You cannot call us stenciling virgins any longer.  Not that you would, but if you had a hankering... you can't.  Sorry not sorry about that, because we are so in love.

After spending too many late nights searching for wallpaper to accent the foyer, I couldn't find anything that was perfect.  I was looking for something whimsical, something non-patterny, and something that gave a nod to the nature feel of our home.  Then I got to thinking that I would probably have to have a plastic corner protector on that hallway corner there.  We are rough and walk past that corner about one hundred times a day.  The idea of that plastic piece, well it squelched the idea of wallpaper for me.  The next best thing?  Stenciling.  Seemed daunting, but I stumbled upon Cutting Edge Stencils.  Their installation videos had me at hello.  I practiced on a junk wall in the laundry room first, but it ended up that Kerry did the majority of the stenciling .  A small "close to the ceiling" stencil came along with our actual stencil.  We started with that.

He used a small foam roller.  Roll it extra dry before rolling over the stencil and you're golden.  Speaking of golden, I picked up four bottles of Martha Stewart's metallic craft paint in Light Gold.  I was hoping for a bit of all day shimmer.

It took us just over two hours and with our new thrifted dresser, the feel of the space is totally different.  Remember when it looked like this?

The coziness factor has grown exponentially.

 Metallic light gold sharks somehow seem less menacing, eh?

The shimmer is my favorite part.  A certain little lady crashed my photo.  I turned it black and white, which somehow gives a fairly accurate depiction of its everyday shimmer.

Three cheers for a project being fun and way easier than we thought!