the little room that could, day 2, day 3, day 4. ugh.

a new day.  i painted the room.  i chose behr's creek bend, a gray paint that will serve as my "grout".  i absolutely love behr paint.  i have one of their fan decks and it weights about 4 pounds.  it gives great coverage.  you can get it with the primer mixed right in, if necessary.  i have decided to do a faux stone wall. 

no, this is not my room, just my muse.  love the stones and colors.

i've been looking at a lot of faux stone walls on-line and decided to keep my stones a little more structured than those in the photo above.  i thought i would run a level around the room and mark out my grout lines, but couldn't figure out how i could see the pencil marks on the charcoal colored walls to line up the tape and i didn't want to use something that i would have to paint over again when the project was finished.  because i was going to tear the tape in such a way as to create a chiseled effect i was going to have to tape over the line.  so i decided to "wing it" and just started putting tape on the walls; no level, no pencil, no hassle.

 

 

i started by putting a 3/4" wide piece of painter's tape on the wall and tore it in half length wise.  i did a bunch of them and just lined them up for quick access.
 

 

i then put them up randomly to get started.  i placed one half of the tape horizontally, then placed another half on the bottom, except turned it around so the two straight edges were together.  this makes the lines chiseled and uneven, which gives a great edge to the grout lines.  be sure to overlap the straight edges so it makes a secure seam.  i mix pieces, not the same pieces from the same tape, as it gives a serpentine or wavy line, which is not what i want.  anyway, practice to find what you like. 

 

 

putting up the lines randomly helps me to get started so i don't get stuck trying to make them perfect; i just started putting up pieces and didn't get focused on symmetry.  i appreciate the "randomness". 

oh, sure, one might just paint the room the base color and do all the faux finishes then paint the grout lines on later, but i'm not that "one".  i am not artistic in the sense that i can "see" the grout lines.  i'm not a faux artist, just someone who wants what she wants, but can't afford to have someone else just do it for her, so i just muster up the courage and i soldier on.  either i come out with both barrels blazin' or just shoot myself in the foot.

 

 

end of day 1

 

 

day 2, 3, 4, etc.

 

 

this is the result of many, many, many hours of tearing and taping {and many, many oreos}.  i had to take one day off in between to rest my sore little fingers.  i don't know what i'd do without my ipod, this part is creative, but tee-dee-us.

 

 

but i'm better now. 

 



 

now it's gettin' excitin'!  time to pick out paint colors!  off to home depot.