Tips on How to Paint Stripes on Walls

Painting stripes on your walls adds dimension and height to a room when the lines are extended to the ceiling. It's possible to create the illusion of wainscoting when adding stripes to the lower portion of the wall and topping it with a border. Painting stripes also adds the look of elegance and sophistication without the hassle of applying wallpaper. This home improvement project requires careful measuring, paint and patience to add a classic touch to your home.

Consider your color options and how you want your room to look. Contrasting colors are fine but your choices should include colors that complement each other. For a muted effect, choose one color in different hues. To create a statement-making look that is bold and adventurous, choose two colors. Striping your walls is only limited by your imagination. Test small samples of your colors side by side on the walls until you find the right color combination. Choose different sheens of paint (flat versus semi-gloss) to add texture and interest to your striping.

Use a horizontal level and a yardstick for accurate measurements. Space your tick marks at your required increments around the room, beginning in the farthest corner. It's much easier to adjust stripe widths in corners than on the edge of the room since you can wrap a stripe around the corner. Be flexible with your final stripes as you may need to make them slightly smaller to encompass the entire room. Take your measurements at both the bottom and top of the wall. Line up the top and bottom tick marks and draw your lines with a colored pencil that is close in color to your paint choice. This will prevent the lines from showing through the layers of paint. If you're feeling especially brave, extend a single piece of painters tape from the top tick mark to the bottom tick mark and smooth completely with a plastic putty knife to seal the tape firmly to the wall. Create a measurement template on your yardstick or an unused paint stirrer. Mark the correct spacing for your stripes on the yardstick and use this template to add your ticks marks around the room.

Paint the entire room with the lighter color paint. This will eliminate the need to stripe two colors. Once one color is completely dry, mark and tape your stripes with blue (or green) painters tape. This tape will not pull off existing paint as long as you remove it within an hour of applying paint. To prevent bleeding, press a plastic putty knife against the tape to completely adhere it to the wall. To prevent bleeding under the painters tape, paint the edge of the blue painters tape with your wall color and let it dry completely. Then add your striping color. The existing background color will help prevent the darker contrast color from bleeding under the tape edge. Remove painters tape within an hour of applying paint to prevent it from sticking to the wall and damaging your new striped finish. To add additional texture to a striped wall, sponge clear gloss with or without a light tint on your walls. This adds a subtle light texture to the otherwise smooth striped walls.