Painting straight borders on a wall is child’s play. Even using a stencil to make a border doesn’t pose much of a challenge. You can accomplish any kind of straight border by using a few tricks from the pros. You can use these techniques to paint simple, yet elegant, single-color borders or multilayered borders that will rival anything you could purchase at the store. Visitors to your home will never know you painted these borders yourself, unless you tell them.
One Color, Stripe-Style Border
Measure downward from your ceiling to determine where you want the top of the border. Make a small mark at that place. Repeat this measurement and marking process every 3 feet along the wall.
Determine the width of your border by measuring downward from the marks you created in Step 1. Repeat this measurement and marking process every 3 feet along the wall. If you are painting the entire lower portion of the wall one color, skip this step.
Place a yardstick between each of the marks and draw a faint pencil line to connect them. Repeat this process for the top and bottom border lines, all the way across the wall.
Adhere low-tack masking tape along the outer edges of your lines. Line up the edge of the masking tape exactly on the lines to protect the surrounding walls from paint splatter.
Cover the surrounding wall, nearby furniture and the floor with plastic sheeting.
Paint between the masking tape with a paint roller or brush. Paint one or two coats depending on how opaque you want the color.
Peel off the masking tape while the paint is still wet, using caution not to touch the wet paint or smear it.
Stenciling a Border
Measure the length and width of the stencil.
Measure downward from the ceiling to mark where you want the top of the border. Mark the wall at that point. Continue marking the wall at that distance from the ceiling every 3 feet.
Line up a chalk line with these marks and snap it to make a full line across the wall.
Divide the length of the wall by the width of the stencil. If you wind up with a fraction, divide it in half and plan to have that size partially repeat at each end of the wall. For example, if you can fit 12 1/2 stencils on the wall, then you will divide the 1/2 into 1/4 and use 1/4 of the stencil on the end of each wall. To do that, divide the width of the stencil by 4 and start your first measurement to mark the stencil width at that distance from the edge of the wall.
Measure along the chalk line, starting at one edge of the wall. Mark the width of the stencil or width of your partial repeat.
Start at that pencil mark and measure the width of the stencil again. Repeat this process, marking the width of the stencil until you reach the opposite end of the wall.
Place two pieces of masking tape at the top edge of the stencil. Adhere the pieces of tape to the wall, lining up the top edge of the stencil with your pencil marks. The masking tape will form a type of hinge.
Dip your stenciling brush into the paint and tap off all the excess.
Dab the brush along the stencil, starting at the edge of the design and working your way toward the center. Continue dabbing until the entire design is painted on the wall.
Lift the stencil upward, utilizing the masking-tape hinge. Check your work. If there are any paint drips or runs that are skewing the lines of the design, wipe them away with a cloth before the paint dries.
Remove the stencil from the wall and line it up with the next set of marks. Center it between your width measurement marks and line up the top of the stencil with the line so that your design is perfectly straight.
Continue moving the stencil and painting until the wall is completed. Remove the stencil and masking tape from the wall while the paint is still wet.
Allow the paint to dry for 24 hours. Wipe off the remaining chalk and pencil marks with a mild cleaning solution. Avoid washing the paint as much as possible.
Things You Will Need
- Measuring tape
- Low-tack masking tape
- Plastic sheeting
- Paint roller
- Chalk line
- Stenciling brush
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