Wall design ideas are always swimming in my head. I love painting my walls more than I love dressing myself. While a lot of women love to shop for clothes, I love to shop for paint. It’s a sickness really but my house colors make me feel happy so I enjoy it (: When I was asked to review U Stripe It‘s new paint tool, I weighed my options before writing the owner back. Remember me and Kristi promised you guys we would free up our blog of “fill” posts? We try to say yes to good opportunities that will benefit us personally AND you as our dear readers. After looking at my walls, I decided a boring white wall in the hallway would be the perfect spot to try out the stripe tool…so it was quickly transformed into an ombre accent wall!
My favorite part is that I was able to use all my random leftover paint to create this color pallet! The top coat is white, leftover from my board and batten entryway. The second coat is is my living room wall color. The third color is the fourth color with the first color mixed (got that??). The fourth color is a ‘turquoise gem’ that I got free 2 years ago!-so happy to finally use it! The 5th color is from my kitchen cabinets (if you follow us via Facebook you’ll have seen a sneak peek of those crazy cabinets, they’ll be revealed soon).
I love that the lines are perfectly straight! There was no guesswork which made this project a breeze! This is what the U-Strip It tool looks like:
The neat thing about this tool is that it’s designed to make perfectly straight lines. Not just horizontal lines like my wall but all sorts of patterns: chevron, plaid, squares, diamonds and so on. Pretty cool, right? Their site offers video tutorials which I watched beforehand. The tool comes with delicate painter’s tape and 2 sided sticky tabs so you can use it with no helpers. I used my handy hubby since he was around to hold it for me while I marked my lines but if he wasn’t home, I’m confident I could have done it without him, the tool is pretty darn easy to use.
To get started with the stripes, you should start at the top and work your way down.
This was trial and error for me as I’ve never done 5 different colors and I had a 4 hour block of time as my kiddos were in school which means I was in impatient mode (; I started off by measuring. My wall is 94″ so I divided that by 5 and ended up with 18″ stripes. I taped 18″ below the top of the wall (#1 pic) and painted that block white. Since I didn’t want to wait for each block to dry, I then jumped to the bottom and painted it dark turquoise (pic #2) and after the first block was dry, I taped the bottom line of the white block and painted the second block. I painted the 4th block (pic #3) a lighter shade of turquoise. It was at this point Sandee came over and said she didn’t like the color of the #2 block so I had to re-evaluate my color scheme. I loved block color 4 so I mixed block 4 with block 1 to get a lighter shade which created block 3. For block 2, I used the wall color on either side of this wall. Make sense? Slightly confusing. The good news is the color mess up was mine, not the tools, oopsie!
Here’s the view when you walk into my house from the garage. Since I park in there, it’s so nice to have this cheery wall greet me when I walk in!
Updated: Click HERE to see how I decorated it after it was painted, it will take you to the full post showing the pic below (:
WANT TO WIN YOUR OWN???
Are you curious how I decorated this wall? It’s all finished and I love it! Come back on Monday and I’ll show you!! Thanks U-Stripe It for letting us play with your neat tool! Be sure to keep up with them on FB and Twitter! Have a great weekend!
cara
Way to go girl! Looks awesome. What a happy wall♥
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Jamielyn@iheartnaptime
Love this! So cute!!
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Jaime from crafty scrappy happy
oh how darn cool! I could SOOOO use one of these tools for my new place! I have a bunch of perfect accent walls! I LOVE your wall—thank you guys for the inspiration and for the chance to win!!!
Jaime
Kimberly @ A Night Owl
looks SO GREAT! what a fun tool, thanks for the giveaway!
Kimberly @ A Night Owl recently posted..{Friday Fancies} Gingham Gorg!
Ami Pera
This turned out amazing & is so inspiring!!
Kristin C.
This looks awesome! Love the colors =)
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Theresa McCabe
WOW that’s so awesome I love it
Now I want to do this in my bathroom!
Theresa McCabe recently posted..Friday Furniture Fix Ups!
Kristyn
LOVE it!! Turned out awesome. Will need to come by next week to check it out.
Melanie
It looks lovely! I’m not sure if my hubby would go for this look…maybe in the play room…he is a cream colored all over kind of guy..lol I need to change his mind…
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lollyjane
Thanks Melanie! You need to convert your hubby to COLOR- he will love it!
Good luck!
Tausha
So I tore a ligament in my foot and can’t do anything but lay in bed and look online. So, I think that you should fly or dive out here and paint an ombre wall for me. Or a chevron. I’m not picky or anything! What a fantastic tool! I want one and you to come the mail with it. Remember how much you love me? Pinning!!!
Tausha recently posted..Simply Spray-Yes, there is really a fabric spray paint
kristen duke photography
LOVE LOVE LOVE it!
Sandee
That turned out awesome!!!!!!!!! Way to go creative girl
Jess
That looks amazing! I love the colors!
Stacia@feathersandsunshine
I love this! I hope you don’t mind, I’ll be copying this idea very soon! perhaps in the same colors? Here vis TT&J
lollyjane
Girl, we’d be flattered!! Thanks for clicking over (:
XOXO
Laurel (@abubblylife)
Wow, this is amazing!! I love the blues, a nice calming effect! visiting via tatertots & jello
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PhotogCynthia
What a very cool idea for a wall you normally wouldn’t pay any attention to. Love the colors.
Just popping in from SITS. So glad I am because it looks like your blog is loaded with ideas!
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Aramelle {One Wheeler's World}
That is such a fun pop of color at the end of your hallway. Looks great!
(Visiting from the Saturday Sharefest at SITS Girls)
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Pricilla J.
OMG! I love this. I get so excited when I find projects that don’t let anything go to waste (like using leftover paint). Lovely!
Stopping by from SITS : )
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Laura @ Inspiration for Moms
Love the colors. Love the technique. Love the wall. Love it all. lol
Great DIY post!
Visiting from SITS.
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Korrie@RedHenHome
Love this! The color scheme reminds me of a dresser I painted once
I have a wall at the top of the stairs that would be fun like this…hmmm….
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Shannah @ Just Us Four
LOVE this! It turned out so beautifully! This is a fantastic project! Would you consider linking this up at my Pinworthy Projects Party? I hope to see you there!
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Anja
Looks great! Might be something I could try, too =) xo Anja
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Amanda Jones (@creativendeavor)
This wall is so fun!! What a great idea! I love it!
kim@too much time
I am just loving this! And that tool sounds seriously awesome. All that measuring and taping for lines and chevrons gives me the hives anyway and this would solve my issue:) If you have a sec I would LOVE for you to share this at my linky-Get Schooled Saturday @ Too Much Time On My Hands-it is all weekend:)
xxx
Kim
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Jessica
Beautifully done! I love the turquoise colors used for this accent wall. It looks great in the hallway! Have a great day!
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JoeyandChase
LOVE LOVE LOVE the wall. the colors. the stripes. brilliant. we are getting ready to move and I can totally see doing something like this in my daughter’s room, in shades of pink…
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Emily
This wall is so pretty! Great Job!
Telisa Van Leeuwen
I LOOOOOVE this!!! Thanks for visiting SugarTot, I can’t wait to do this on a wall somewhere in my house as well as your kid canvas art! You girls are amazing!