STENCILLING THE DINING ROOM

I purchased this stencil after I had stenciled the parlor bath.  I loved the look of wallpaper and the damask design was calling to me.

Since Mr. Thrifty had painted the dining room, he was ready to finish the job.

Then when I looked at the 11 foot ceiling, I got scared and told him that I thought the job would be too hard.  He told me to go buy my paint.

When I painted the parlor bathroom, I was too cheap to go buy white paint so I used the chalk paint that I had in the garage--big mistake. It dries too fast.

I bought this acrylic paint at Wal-Mart.  It I make a mistake, it can easily be wiped down and re-stenciled.

We both went out to the garage to figure out how to match them one by one.  It was relatively easy.  The big problem was since it is such a large stencil, the foam roller has to be refilled half way through painting the one stencil.  After one or two stencils on the way, I found that if I painted from the middle, I would do to the top of the stencil, put more paint on the roller and complete the bottom.  This was found by trial and error. 

The most important part of stenciling is to roll the brush in the paint tray, and roll most of it off on paper towels.  Even when you think it seems dry, it will reduce seeping under the stencil.

This is our practice stencil.  Notice that the paint is not uniform.  I like the fact that it isn't in places because it looks worn and dated.

 

Mr. Thrifty set up the scaffolding and we were ready to work.  I have to say I was about timid about climbing on the scaffolding.  The Mr. stayed on the ladder to my right in case I lost my footing.  Also because the stencil was so large, he had to hold it in place while I actually did the stenciling.

Instead of explaining the process, I want you to see the pictures.  We started in the top middle knowing that every strip would have a 1/2 stencil somewhere in the strip.

I bought this paint at Walmart and I used 2 1/2 bottles.  It was around $4.00 a bottle, so not a bad cost for the paint.  It worked well wiping off if a mistake was made  too.

My little girl fits beautifully into the new surroundings.

After seeing the furniture placed back in the room, it was obvious that I need to completely redo the buffet, table and chairs.  I have a great idea, but I'm going to keep you in suspense.

I am so happy that we did this project.  You might notice that the damask painting is centered on the large wall.  I didn't want to go edge to edge with the stencil and not have a clean ending at the end of the wall.  That being said, I think it would be fine to go corner to corner.  That was just my preference.

 I am thrilled with the results. I would make a strong recommendation.  This is a two-person project.