Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Stripes on the Ceiling


I recently spent the better part of a whole day up and down on a ladder with my arms in the air and neck craned back looking up in order to create a pattern of lovely stripes on a little girl's bedroom ceiling.

Thankfully I met a sweet new friend that day....... the little girl's grandmother, who kept me company, showed great kindness, shared stories and helped with the task immensely.

If you ever get the crazy idea to tackle a task like this yourself here are a few tips that may help you along the way:


  1. Have a can of paint that matches your ceiling color.
  2. Measure your room and plan out your stripes in whole numbers if possible or at least fractions that are easier to keep up with. Try to measure so that you don't wind up with a partial stripe if possible. Ours were 9.25" wide and made 17 equal stripes across the room so that it started on a colored stripe and ended on a colored stripe.
  3. * A standard roller is 9" wide
  4. Mark your  measurements with pencil on the ceiling on opposite sides of the room (beginning from the same end so they match up)
  5. Do a chalk line before you try to put your tape up so that you can get really straight lines. (great to have a helper on this)
  6. Tape to the inside of the stripe that is going to be your ceiling color.
  7. Use a small roller on an extension handle to roll ceiling paint over the edge of the tape on the sides that will be painted with your new color......this will seal the tape to the ceiling and assure that any paint that seeps under your carefully placed tape will be the ceiling color and not the new color.
  8. Roll on your new color with the standard roller and then go over the edges with a small smooth roller. 
  9. Do your edging by hand with a nice smooth brush made for cutting in.
  10. If you get paint somewhere it shouldn't go.....wipe it immediately with a wet rag or towel.
Good luck!  Here's a look at the process...... (notice we also lowered the light fixture and removed vent cover before painting.

P.S. Don't move that ladder yet! lol  (inside joke with my helper, ha, ha....disaster averted thankfully)


Now, most importantly you will probably need a major neck and back massage after a job like this.

Happy painting!

2 comments:

Inna said...

So fun! What a great idea. I love interesting ceilings because you almost never see them!!

Jackie said...

thanks! I also loved the way the light from the chandelier really sparkled against the pattern of stripes....and wasn't that a great color too!!