Oh, how we love seeing a new use for paint that makes a house look great! It’s just about our favorite thing, so you can imagine how happy we were over the recent holidays when we visited our relatives and saw that they’d found a great new way to use stencils and paint to spruce up a room in a big, fun way.
Stenciling is one of those interesting mediums that really doesn’t get the credit it deserves, mostly being relegated to the realm of art projects for kids and graffiti artists. Truthfully, though, it’s a super easy way to apply a near perfect image to just about anything that’ll take paint. In the case of our stylish relatives, they took the stencil’s versatility to a whole new level by applying it to a dining room table and an accent wall. Genius!
To do this for your own home, there are a few things to think about:
- Picking something to stencil.
As we just mentioned, our family used the stencil to great effect by painting one large one on a kitchen table as well as on one dining room wall, but you can use them on just about any piece of furniture or in any room in the house. A fun stencil can make an excellent centerpiece for a kid’s room, or a few small stencils on the side or doors of an armoire can transform a plain piece of furniture into a conversation starter.One thing you do want to think about, however is that stencils looks best on solid colors, so avoid painting them onto wood grain or patterns unless you’re absolutely sure of the results (and never, ever on wallpaper!).
- Finding the right image for you.
Pick a piece of furniture or a wall first, so you know what size and kind of image will look great, and then start looking for images to apply to it! Here you have a few options: you can either buy a pre-made stencil, pay someone to make one for you or make your own. Pre-made stencils can be found in a huge variety of styles and sizes at craft stores and bigger superstores, but of course, you’ll be limited to what’s in stock.The Internet is a great resource for buying unique, high-quality stencils, and it’s also the place to go to for custom stencils. When picking an image to turn into a stencil, the best results will come from simple one layer images, but you could have some success with black and white images with high contrast.
This is also the kind of image you want to use if making your own stencil. You can turn a photo into a stencil-ready image by using programs like Photoshop, and then printing it out. Tape it to something durable, such as cardboard, and then cut it out with an Xacto knife. There are a ton of easy-to-find tutorials online that show how to use both Photoshop to make the image ideal and for cutting stencils, so just do a little Googling if that’s the route you decide to take.
- Turning that surface into art!
This is the fun part! Now that you’ve got your stencil and wall or piece of furniture picked out, you just need to decide what kind of paint you want to use, prepare the area and get to the painting.When it comes to paint, the best options are either to apply acrylic with a sponge or to use spray paint, and each has advantages. For both, though, you’ll want to prepare the area by making sure the stencil is as flush to the surface as possible For a vertical surface, this means taping and holding down any center sections by hand while painting. Flat surfaces also need to be taped, but you can use weighty objects to hold down the pieces of the stencil, applying the paint in thirds from top to bottom and moving your weights as you go (you might need to use your hand a little too).
The main question when deciding between spray and acrylic is whether a perfect image or ease of application/clean-up is more important to you. Spray paint properly applied will provide the cleanest, best looking images, and it takes much less time to apply. However, you’ll need to cover up the surface surrounding the stencil in order to avoid overspray, and you’ll also need to wear proper protective gear and ventilate the room.
Acrylic, on the other hand, requires no protective gear, but you will need a sponge to apply the paint. If going this route, try to put just a small amount of paint on the sponge at once and press it down in one clean up and down motion, or you will likely shift the stencil or slide the paint underneath, causing an unsightly blotch.
When done right, both of these methods can provide a lovely addition to any home for very little cost, which is pretty ideal if you ask us. Try them out on something small before you paint the whole wall, or just go for the big shebang right away! We think you’ll be happy with the results, and we guarantee you’ll be hearing complements for a long, long time.
