Stenciling A Wall To Look Like Wallpaper

Today I am going to share how to easily stencil all of the walls in a room. It gives the look of wallpaper, but is a more inexpensive option. If you want to learn everything I wish I knew before stenciling a wall, then keep reading.

Our playroom is by the front door. I have always had trouble when designing it as it has some challenges to work around, so I decided to use a stencil that I bought for my daughter’s room in here instead. It looks great, but there are some things I wish I knew before stenciling a wall.

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Stenciling A Wall

Here are the things to consider when deciding to go about stenciling a wall:

Gather Supplies

For this project you will need the following:

1. Your Stencil of choice (I used this one from Stencil Revolution)
2. Paint
3. Foam Roller
4. Stenciling Brush
5. Painter’s tape
6. Small detail brush
7. Level

Paint The Wall Base Color

The first step is to paint the base color onto the wall. This will be the color that gets stenciled over. If the current color on the walls is your base color, make sure to clean the walls of dust and debris for best results with stenciling the wall.

Add Painters Tape

Next, add some painter’s tape around the top and bottom of your walls. When all of the full stencils are done, the hard to reach areas are left. The way to get these involves bending the stencil and the lines aren’t always clean. Having the tape there helps when cleaning up the edges.

Also add some painter’s tape to the outside edges of the stencil. This will help hold the stencil in place while stenciling the wall.

Start Stenciling!

Once you decide where to start with your stencil, start stenciling! I chose to start in a corner. Making sure it was level, I then taped the stencil in place. You can also use some spray adhesive to help the stencil lay flat.

Using a foam roller, load the roller with a small amount of paint. Off load some of the paint on a paper towel. Gently roll the paint over the stencil, being careful not to press down too firmly. This is a similar process stenciling floors.

Roll a light layer of paint over the stencil. Continue until the whole stencil is covered. Lift up the stencil carefully immediately after finishing.

Related: Stenciling Front Porch, Update On Painted Floors

Continue Stenciling The Wall

It is easy to continue the pattern to look like wallpaper. The design is repeating and all you have to do is match up the pattern and hope it’s straight. Don’t worry so much about whether it looks 100% straight.

Instead, concentrate on matching up the pattern as much as possible to continue the pattern.

To help easily match the design each time, there are registration marks to help. Line those up, tape the stencil in place and continue to paint the stencil. Repeat this all over the walls with the full stencil.

How To Attack The Corners

If you are just stenciling one wall, disregard this part. I stenciled all four walls which meant that I had to tackle the corners. The easiest way to do this is tape the inside of the corner.

When the stencil reaches the corner, bend the stencil into the corner and bounce a stenciling brush over the stencil. The painter’s tape stops the excess paint from going onto the next wall.

Use a small craft brush to fill in the details. Let the paint dry and then tape the corner that was just painted. Now the other side of the corner is ready to be stenciled.

Painting Along The Edges

Painting the edges is similar to the corners.

Tape the bottom edge of the wall and the top edge of the wall. When the stencil reaches the edges, bend it into place and paint the stencil as best as you can with the stencil brush.

Go back with a detail brush and fill in any of the pattern to clean up the lines of the paint.

Finishing Touches

When all of the stenciling is done, go back and clean up all of the details. I found the easiest way to do this was to do this was to stencil a portion of the wall, let that dry, and then go back in the brush for the details.

This way, as I moved around the room with the stencil, I was finishing each section and I didn’t have to go back. The full stencils get done really quickly, it is the details and edges that take the most time.

I recommend starting at the top of the wall. I started in the middle of the wall, then did the bottom and top. It took more time this way, so learn from my mistakes.

My favorite part was doing all of the detail work. It was a tedious job, but I found it relaxing and much more enjoyable than working with a stencil.

Tips For Stenciling The Wall

Here are my tips for stenciling the wall:

1. Choose a busy pattern-the busy pattern will hide the mistakes and imperfections
2. Don’t expect perfection-this kind of project takes time and patience. The hand painted nature of it is something to embrace because it will not be perfect like wallpaper.
3. Start with the full stencil-before doing the edges and corners, start with all of the full stencils.
4. Cut The Stencil to fit-If the corners and edges are difficult to get to, consider cutting the stencil to fit where you need it.
5. Use 2 stencils-the one stencil can get gunky so having a second one can be handy
6. Wipe the stencil regularly-because the stencil can get full of paint, wipe it off regularly.
7. Lift up on the stencil-when the stencil is fully painted, lift up immediately for best results
8. Make sure stencil is level-use a stencil to check that your stencil is level before painting
9. Only A Little Paint-only use a little bit of paint on the roller, use a paper towel to off load excess paint.
10. Frog tape painter’s tape-painter’s tape helps around the edges and corners. I only use frog tape.

Before

After

Here is the final result of the stenciled wall. I am so happy with it! It turned out beautifully and it was so much better than the before. Now the room matches the whimsical feel of the space and the color scheme of my home.

Next up is to finish the playroom layout, paint a few more things and add the rug! Stay tuned for the playroom reveal!