Metallic Gold Arrow Accent Wall Tutorial

Posted on November 18, 2014 by Roeshel

A small plain wall is a great spot for adding some pattern and detail to a room. This small wall in the apartment nursery nook was just begging for a little attention. Here’s what we did to give it some pizzazz:

Arrow Accent Wall Tutorial

Materials:

Happy Crafters metallic gold glossy adhesive vinyl
Metallic gold Sharpie

What worked for me:

I started with creating triangle (arrowhead) vinyl stickers in my Silhouette Design Studio software. (Since I had some extra space, I created a few vinyl decals including the letter A and a deer head as well…they aren’t a part of this project.)

I hit the “cut” button and adjusted the settings on my blade for vinyl.

Load the vinyl into my Silhouette Cameo color side facing up.

Hit “cut” and remove from machine.

Weed away the excess vinyl (the vinyl that’s not a part of the design). Vinyl stickers. That fast!

On the wall using a level and Sharpie, I drew vertical lines evenly spaced part.

We then decided on placement of the arrow heads, alternating the direction every other line.

I cut a “chevron” pattern from cardboard and used it to create arrow tails, again, evenly spaced and alternating the direction every other line.

Ali used a piece of damp magic eraser to erase the Sharpie line between arrows (note for potential future reference: magic eraser works on removing permanent marker from walls).

That’s it. I was hoping for a more staggered look, but even with drawing it out on paper, the final design had an alternating horizontal pattern too. Cool!

What do you think? Cute. Simple. Right?

See the entire nursery nook HERE.

See my guest room/nursery space for more nursery ideas:

*This post is sponsored by Happy Crafters. Tutorial, experience and opinion is my own. Check out all the supplies at Happy Crafters for inspiration for your next project.

Guest Room/Nursery Diagonal Wall Paint Refresh

Posted on November 5, 2014 by Roeshel

Our guest room was painted just a few years ago (and the color is a mix of several leftover paints, but I’d say it’s close to Benjamin Moore Smoke). And an occupational hazard of loving DIY and decorating is that walls wind up with tiny nail holes everywhere (they’re just holes! It doesn’t deter me from decorating and doing what I love when it’s such an easy fix). The walls also had some scuffs, etc. And well, with welcoming a grandson into our lives soon, I wanted to freshen up the guest room a bit and to add a few nursery details. So, time to freshen up those walls.

Guest room before – not bad at all! But I want to freshen up the room, make room for a guest baby too!

I really like the existing color. So I didn’t want to completely start over. I decided to add Valspar Sandstone Gray to the main areas that needed “freshened up”. How did I do it? By keeping the existing wall color on one wall completely and painting the opposing/opposite wall the new color. Then, the other two walls got a bit of a fun treatment. New color where I patched the nail holes, existing color remains on the bottom half where I didn’t have nail holes.

Yes, that means a diagonal design. Simple. I am really loving the result!

How did I do the diagonal wall treatment? With…

FrogTape® Multi-Surface
string
thumbtacks
paint

Note: I tackled this project before sunrise (crazy!) but I couldn’t sleep (it does feel like a productive day when you accomplish so much before lunch). Anyway, please pardon the shadows in the tutorial photos.

I attached string to the upper most corner of the wall with a thumbtack. Then did the same on the opposite bottom corner of the room.

I used the string as a guide for placing my FrogTape.

I used my thumbnail to burnish the edge of the tape that would meet the paint.

Removed the thumbtacks/string.

Then Painted the upper halves of the walls. Two coats.

While the second coat was still wet, I removed the FrogTape and allowed the paint to dry before re-decorating.

I repeated the same steps on the opposite wall.

I really love the way I still have the original color but it’s updated, fun and freshened up!

See the full guest room/nursery reveal here.

Disclaimer: I received compensation to complete this project for using FrogTape® products. All opinions, projects and ideas are based on my own experience.

Painted Staggered Striped Accent Wall

Posted on May 27, 2014 by Roeshel

I’ve shared bits and pieces and sneak peeks of the accent wall in the laundry room and I have to say, photographing that small space is a big challenge but here’s the gist of what we did and how it’s looking. A small wall in a laundry room is a great way to play with a bold design.

The base color on my walls is white. Clean, plain, simple.

But adding black staggered stripes is a fun way to add a punch of wow!

Supplies:

Paint – I use latex in an eggshell finish. One color as the base, a bolder color for the accent.
FrogTape® Delicate Surface (I also used FrogTape® Multi-Surface to start)

What I did:

Planning/measurements: I started by measuring the wall width and height. For me it’s 45.5 inches wide by 107 inches or so tall. My baseboard is 6 inches tall, leaving me with 101 inches of height. I decided on 5 inch high stripes. With a 45.5 inch width, I decided on roughly three 15 inch columns.

I’m going to start with how I did the design since painting the base color is basic…just paint the wall! For the stripes, using a yard stick, I made pencil marks every 5 inches above the baseboard and along the wall.

I then connected the dots using a light pencil line and my level to create evenly spaced horizontal lines up the wall from baseboard to ceiling.

Because dividing 45.5 into 3 equal sections gets an odd long number, I made a mark in the center of each horizontal line on the wall (for me that was 27.75). From the center, I made a pencil mark at 7.5 inches left and right. My center column on the wall will measure exactly 15 inches. The left and right columns will be slightly larger than the center 15 inch column (but unnoticeable).

I then used my level to connect the dots to mark my vertical lines and to create three columns on the wall.

Time for FrogTape®! Starting with the center column, I taped off the “outside” of every other rectangle.

Burnish the edges of the FrogTape with a thumbnail.

Using a dense foam roller, I painted each rectangle. I did three coats since I painted black on white.

While the last coat of paint was still wet, I removed the FrogTape by pulling away from the paint. Let dry 24 hours.

Time to paint the left and right columns! Using FrogTape Delicate Surface (since the black paint is still fairly fresh), I taped off each rectangle (staggered from the center column).

Again, burnish the edges of the FrogTape with a thumbnail then paint. I did three coats throughout the day.

While the last coat of paint is still wet, remove the FrogTape by pulling away from the paint. Let dry 24 hours.

As is the way with DIY, I was not liking my initial design. It was more of a check board/racing flag look. Not what I was going for at all! Yikes! OH NO NO NO!

The fix: So, on the right and left columns I applied a strip of FrogTape Delicate to the white rectangle boxes/stripes…one on the top edge, one on the bottom edge.

Then painted the white middle section of each rectangle black. Again, 3 coats!

While the last coat was still wet, I removed the FrogTape….and the result was MUCH BETTER! It has a sort of 3D look to it. I was going to do that last paint step on the middle column’s black rectangle with white paint in the center but ended up liking it as is.

It really pops agains the otherwise neutral white laundry room with silver appliances, black walnut porcelain tile floor, bright green decorative accents and adds some fun dimension.

Well worth the math. Well worth the few hours of work a day for a couple of days. Now I get to enjoy the result for years! *I had to lighten the pictures (causing graininess) because there is NO natural light in this room.

It’s the perfect back drop for my ironing board with DIY cover too! Don’t you think?

More FrogTape Wall Ideas:

The annual Earn Your Stripes™ painting contest is taking place right now!!! Grand prize is $5,000.00!! I’d LOVE for a DIYShowOff reader to win! Imagine what you can do with $5000! Since I can’t enter, I hope you will! I’ll be participating in the judging! Enter here —> https://promotions.frogtape.com/earn-your-stripes/

Deadline to enter is now through July 1st – so, plenty of time to get creative hats on and execute a project. You’ll need before, during and after photos. Here are the official rules: https://promotions.frogtape.com/earn-your-stripes/rules. Here are the FAQ’s for the contest: https://promotions.frogtape.com/earn-your-stripes/faqs

Best part, all entries (see official rules) will receive a free roll of Shape Tape! Good luck!

Disclaimer: I received compensation to complete this project for using FrogTape® products. All opinions, projects and ideas are based on my own experience.

Easy Painted Patterned Accent Wall DIY

Posted on January 10, 2014 by Roeshel

Earlier, I shared the pantry reveal and I’ve had a few questions related to one of the walls as to whether or not I used wallpaper.

While I do love the look of wallpaper, I’ve had enough wallpaper removal to last me a lifetime so the answer is ‘no’. It’s paint! If you’re a long time DIY Show Off fan, you know that I am a big fan of using FrogTape® to create fun accent walls (see here, here, here, here) and with the addition of the Shape Tape, there are even more options for a creating a fun accent wall. I’d prefer to lightly sand and repaint than strip wallpaper in the future, wouldn’t you?

My wall is small. I used FrogTape and chevron Shape Tape to create a fun accent pattern with a tribal/Aztec feel. My lines were mostly “eyeballed”… but use a level and pencil if you’re more of a perfectionist.

I started at the bottom of my wall space and created straight lines with the Multi-Surface FrogTape and lined it up with the chevron Shape Tape to create stripes, zig zags and diamonds…no real planning out a pattern…I just got creative working my way about 1/3 of the wall (again, no measuring).

Then worked my way down from the ceiling to about 1/3 of the wall space copying the same pattern I used at the bottom of the wall.

Next I found the center of the wall and spaced out a similar pattern there to meet the bottom and top design. Since it’s the center, I didn’t feel it had to be a perfect match with the top and bottom pattern. I was right! It only adds to the uniqueness of the design. Here’s how it looked with the taping complete:

I actually painted the walls with my base color last April. It’s Valspar (Cool Grey). I didn’t want a loud bold design, so I used some leftover True Value Platinum (Old Fashioned…a light blue/gray) from our kitchen walls as the accent color.

Once my tape design was complete, I used a credit card to burnish the edges of the tape as I worked by rubbing the tape edge then painting the section. I only did one coat (again, I wasn’t looking for bold results and wanted the irregularity of one coat). This wall is bumpy in places so just doing a light colored pattern helps to take focus off of the wall’s imperfections.

As soon as I was finished painting, while the paint was still wet, I removed the tape.

So within a 1-2 hour time frame, my wall had an awesome new ‘wallpapered’ look with a subtle design!

I was going for a tribal or Scandinavian vibe. From a distance, it reminds me of writing paper. Remember it from grade school?

What I love about this: Cost for 1 roll of FrogTape and 1 roll of chevron Shape Tape is less than a roll of wallpaper! Use leftover paint! It’s also less time consuming and less work – all for the same look as wallpaper without the headache to install or remove plus the option to personalize colors and design.

Disclaimer: I received compensation to complete this project for using FrogTape® products. All opinions, projects and ideas are based on my own experience.

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Tips for painting a herringbone patterned accent wall

Posted on October 30, 2012 by Roeshel

Apartment progress!

Herringbone Accent {on textured} Wall

I’ve shown sneak peeks of the apartment renovation progress and you’ve likely seen the herringbone-like accent wall in the kitchen area…

Base paint color: True Value Easy Care – Baby Elephant (soft neutral gray) & Accent color: True Value Easy Care – Sweet Honey

Since we own this rental space, I was able to get a little creative in adding a fun accent wall as a backdrop behind some open shelving. Before paint…

Yes…I have ‘plans’ for a DIY radiator cover but I must confess that I feel it’s a LOT ambitious and I’m scared. Working up the courage to give it a try sometime this month. Anyway, after paint {including painting kitchen cabinets and Rustoleum Countertop Transformations}:

The open wall space above the wainscoting was the perfect spot to display open shelving as a solution for more storage/organization in this tiny apartment. True Value’s Easy Care Platinum and FrogTape were all I needed to add some interest to a flat textured wall. The pattern also helps disguise the un-hidden pipes. I put together a quick tutorial video using my iphone {pardon the portrait orientation, poor quality…amateur videographer but working hard on getting better!} explaining how I achieved the herringbone pattern:

The wall was finished and I was so happy to be able to move forward on the renovation! Shelves are budget friendly Ekby shelving and brackets from IKEA…

{installation was super easy using the Master Mechanic Swift Driver!}

Woo hoo! And just when I felt super good about a little DIY success, something went wrong upstairs with the plumbing. The joys of DIY… I was just too exhausted and heartbroken to deal with it. My Mr. DIY fixed the plumbing issue in the bathroom above and Bri’s boyfriend, Steve, saved the day by patching the ceiling below. and I set about touching up the paint… Now, all done for real… If you missed it yesterday, I shared the hardwood floors before/after refinishing:

More apartment renovation, decorating and furnishing coming soon!

We were chosen by True Value to be one of the members of the 2012 DIY Squad. I have been compensated for the materials needed for my DIY projects. However, the thoughts and opinions expressed are completely honest and my own. I have not been paid to publish positive comments and no one has twisted my arm to participate. This is a sponsored post brought to you by FrogTape. The opinions are completely my own based on my own experience.

DIY Show Off ™ – DIY Decorating and Home Improvement Blog

DIYShowOff – Budget Friendly Do-It-Yourself Home Improvement and Decorating blog

Tag Archives: accent wall

Metallic Gold Arrow Accent Wall Tutorial

Guest Room/Nursery Diagonal Wall Paint Refresh

Painted Staggered Striped Accent Wall

Easy Painted Patterned Accent Wall DIY

Tips for painting a herringbone patterned accent wall