A stripe of a different color
Stencils of ancestral shields decorate the stripes in this medieval-themed bedroom.
Stripes are marked off with low-tack tape, and a green glaze is washed over the yellow basecoat.
The shields are stenciled on with black and gray paint.
Decorating a child’s room is so much fun. Here you find the freedom to play with whimsical themes and colors, and create an imaginative space that your child will be happy to call his or her own. Although it’s tempting to think back to what you would have wanted when you were that age, perhaps your child has different interests. Pay attention to what sparks their imagination, what characters they relate to in books or on TV, what themes they return to when playing solo or with friends.
Paint is such a versatile medium that you can reproduce any theme, any mood, simply by rolling color onto a wall. And there are many easy-to-apply paint finishes that will boost the room’s character even more.
Stripes can be any size and provide a variety of looks, whether you apply them vertically or horizontally. Two crayon colored stripes touching each other placed 1 or 2 feet apart over a quiet background is youthful and full of energy. For a peaceful mood appropriate for a nursery, try wide horizontal stripes in soft shades of green or violet. A single horizontal stripe set at about 3 feet above the floor is the perfect height for a young child to line up favorite motifs with stickers or stamps.
A 9-year-old with a fascination for medieval knights was the inspiration for the bedroom shown here. Stripes are useful for lining up other patterns or placing motifs as added decoration. Here we chose yellow and green stripes. The yellow is the base coat. The wall was then divided into 12 inch vertical stripes, marked off with a pencil, and low-tack painter’s tape was used to mask off the outside edges of each of the stripes to be painted green. These stripes will look fatter than the other stripes. It’s helpful to mark an X with tape on the stripes not to be painted. The green stripes are applied as a glaze: one part paint to one part glazing liquid. Apply the glaze with a kitchen sponge and wash the color onto the stripes, creating a cloudy effect.
To develop the medieval theme, we looked up ancestral shields, simplified them and made our own stencils cut from Mylar. The stencils were placed at intervals alternating between stripes. Use gray and black acrylic paint or silver metallic paint to fill in the stencils. To finish the walls neatly, a solid green stripe was painted along the upper wall overlapping onto the ceiling. An orange stripe defines the top of the wall.
Decide how far you want to go with a theme. You can stop at the wall finish, or add photos and accessories that continue to build on the mood. The wide range of colors and patterns available in bed sheets, duvets and curtains always makes a statement. Wood shutters suited this room, along with a cork floor that is comfortable to play on and looks great. An old steamer trunk holds toys and books and doubles as a seat.
Email your questions to house2home@debbietravis.com.