Ok guys I’ve got a great project that was really easy to do and took no time at all which is how the majority of my projects go! It all started when I was moving some clothes into our guest room closet and I noticed how badly the walls inside it needed a paint job. On the top shelf I had placed these chevron boxes and got the idea to match the chevron print on the wall. I loved the idea of doing an accent wall on a smaller scale and because I wasn’t hanging so many things in there the wall would be able to shine! Now, figuring out how to tape off the lines to do this can be very intimidating but it was super simple!
Here are some before shots so you can get an idea of what I was working with.
I started by taping off the floor and adding some builder’s paper to cover the hard wood.
The box to the left in the closet is a laundry chute which I love!! For the walls and chute I used Benjamin Moore Regal paint in White (Flat).
I applied 2 coats and left it to dry for 24 hours.
At this point I referred to my “plans” hehe
The idea was to create a grid. The wall itself was 74″ wide and 61″ tall. I made 5 horizontal stripes 10″ apart and 7 vertical stripes 10″ apart leaving me with 10×10″ boxes. Since the wall isn’t exact the bottom stripe was 1″ thicker and I also made a 4″ vertical stripe on the end. Since these parts of the wall won’t really show it didn’t bother me all that much. If I were doing this on a bigger scale wall I would have evened it out by doing a 2″ vertical on the left and the other 2″ on the right.
I used my level to make the lines straight.
The next step is now making the chevron stripes. To do that all you have to do is draw a diagonal line from the top of one square to the bottom and vice versa.
In order to make the diagonal lines I needed something that was long enough to reach from one end to the next and also something that was flexible for when I was on the edge so of course I went with none other than a ginger ale box.
Next came tapping. I used the Frog tape. This part is pretty important. You need to decide which parts you’re going to paint and which parts will stay white. The parts you will be painting will have the tape on the outside of the line you drew. You’ll see in the picture below that the thicker shape is where you are painting and the thinner part is what you’re keeping white.
Now we need to seal the tape. This is the secret to getting the most perfect straight lines! In order to do this you want to take the base color of your wall, in this case the flat white, and go over the edge of the tape where you will be painting. Here’s a photo of what I mean.
By doing this, you’re allowing the base paint to bleed through and seal the tape to the wall. I know that all of these tapes claim to not bleed through but I’m working with black paint here so I am not willing to take any chances! Once that is all dry you can now take your accent color and start painting your chevron stripes!
I used a high-gloss black latex paint. I brushed along the edges and rolled inside.
Look at that shine! I decided to do high-gloss because I wanted it to really stand out against the flat white.
I did two coats to make sure it was a nice deep black! As soon as I did the second coat on one stripe I pulled the tape off before it dried. I continued this with each stripe.
I put the shelf back and put up the boxes that inspired the whole idea!
The next thing was to add some more storage. I purchased an 9 drawer Alex unit and hung up the clothes that I will keep in here. Let’s just say I never want to keep the doors closed!
I wish I could say that is my whole jewelry collection but I would definitely be lying! I have plans to lay some velour inside the top 3 drawers to store the rest of my jewelry in.
Well I hope this inspires you to try out an accent wall somewhere in your home!
Remember even the smallest of spaces could have a big impact!
xo