Tips and Tricks for Painting Chunky Colorful Stripes

If you haven’t heard, we moved the Lars’ studio into the bottom level of our house. With the studio entrance being just off our kitchen, I want to be able to open our studio door and be transported to a whimsical and artful craft land. The stairway down to the studio, however, is boring at best. Think white walls and unfinished wood. Blah! When Scotch® Painter’s Tape and HGTV Magazine reached out to us about a paint project, we knew this was our chance to come up with something amazing for our entrance!

Here’s what we started with:

With the stairway being a first impression, we had to make sure we were conveying a colorful and fun message to our visitors. One of our greatest sources of inspiration for this project was a candy shop–fun, colorful, and whimsical. I think we checked all 3 with these chunky stripes.  It was a toss up between green and blue, but I think the blue gives a nice fresh welcome and complements the pink floors quite nicely.

How to paint stripes on the walls

If you’ve ever tackled stripes before, you know they are no easy task. Here are some tips to make it easier!

• Use Scotch® Blue Sharp Lines Painter’s Tape!
• A laser level.  A laser level projects a temporary line of light on your wall while you mark it off with your tape.  No pencils or chalk needed.  And if you find a suction laser level, then you can easily do the project with just one person!  If not, another helper works just as well;). I did it after the kids went to bed with a podcast (or two ;)and honestly, got so sucked into the project that I kind of wish I had more stripes to paint.
• Once we had the lines marked off, it was as easy as painting and peeling. A quick tip: peel your painters’ tape off at a 45 degree angle away from the paint. This prevents the tape from tearing.  Once you’ve removed the tape, it’s time to step back and enjoy your work.

How to paint stairs

Because we were also painting over stairs that were once covered in carpet we had a lot of prep before we could actually start painting.

1. First we had to clean A LOT
2. Then we had to take out all the staples from the carpet and putty over them
3. Next we primed
4. Then we used Scotch® Blue Tape to create clean lines against the ribbon of the staircase.
5. Then we painted them with a high gloss white (easier for cleaning and we liked the shiny look!). One tip for even more durability is to get a patio paint. They didn’t have it in the color I wanted so I’m risking it with white. 
6. Then we moved onto the walls

We loved how this project turned out. And even better, we’re not as embarrassed to invite visitors into our studio, ha!

This post is sponsored by Scotch® Painter’s Tape though all opinions are my own.