A few months before we knew Gherkin was coming, while were still trying to tempt her to make herself known - we decided to up the ante by starting on what would be her nursery. The previous owners had used it as an office. We used it as a guest room for a little while.
The room is the second largest bedroom, but by no means the biggest room in the world. Perfect for a baby!
This is what we started with. Bland, boring and brown. Not sure of this shade, but it wasn't doing the room justice.
We decided to go with my favorite color in the absolute whole world, grey. In a 2-tone stripe for neutrality. Wasn't aware of Gherkin's presence, let alone her gender. And a neutral palette would work well for either gender down the road.
We started by clearing out the room. Getting our supplies ready. Taking off faceplates and wiping down the base moldings for dust.
The base coat of HD Behr's Irish Mist was first - here I am cutting in around corners and window trim. And no, I do not typically use painter's tape when cutting in. I just get a really good 2 inch brush and go to town. If I dribble a bit, which has been known to occur, I can go back over the trim piece with some white.
I cut in, and Craig rolls. It's a good division of labor, especially time-wise, we usually spend about the same amount of time with the paint can. Also, does Home Depot's Behr paint smell like oddly off egg nog to anyone else?
After the base coat, which I trust I don't have to explain, we were ready to prep for stripes!
Step One is knowing the dimensions of your room, especially height - to determine how thick you want your stripes. Now, you don't necessarily have to make them all the same size, though if you are going for a uniform look, it is best to have the 2 stripes more at eye-level the same height and any others deviating less than 0.5 - 1 inch. If you don't your eye will figure it out, and it will bug you til the end of time.
Because of the height of our walls and where our electrical outlets lay, we decided to go with a combination of 14, 15, and 16 inch stripes.
Laying out your lines is of utmost importance. Don't get impatient and just eyeball it - it will not be a good time. We used a laser level on each top and bottom marking. It probably would have been better had we focused on one line at a time, instead of one wall at a time - for our walls are not completely square, and there was a bit of a mismatch on some of the lines when we got all the way around. Luckily for us, the window assisted in camouflaging these mismatched joins.
After you plot out your lines Step Two is to cut in on your lines. Don't just start rolling, unless you really trust your ability to roll close to the .5 inch line of tape that is saving you from certain agony. Also, you will get cleaner lines if you cut in first.
In the division of labor category, you could have one person cut in and another roll a different line, staying well away from the tape lines.
In our case, I just started about 20 mins before Craig did, and I was able to stay a stripe ahead of him. The stripes go FAST! We did run 2 coats on the stripes.
Also, marking your 'paint' stripes vs. your 'don't paint' stripes - VERY helpful.
Once complete, you have a fresh, modern gender neutral look for your room! And this look doesn't just work in a nursery. I've seen tone on tone stripes work well in lots of rooms, from Bedrooms to Kitchens to Living Rooms. Just keep the color choices within the same paint sample strip and your golden.
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