Fun with Stencils

I love what you can do with stencils.  So versatile and so not permanent.  For someone that changes their mind frequently, like yours truly, these are the perfect solution.  They can give you the same look/effect as wallpaper without the commitment and it's easy to do.  I found some fabulous stencils on Etsy, but eventually settled on this  one from hobby lobby because the price was right.  It ended up being around $12 with a 40% off coupon. 

I decided to start my stenciling on a small, manageable wall to avoid getting overwhelmed.  So I picked this small area right behind our front door.   

I used some leftover flat white paint that I had in the garage and a small foam roller to apply the paint.  I also used Elmer's Spray Adhesive to hold the stencil in place while I was painting.  The spray adhesive temporarily holds it in place without leaving any sticky residue behind.  I started out using one of those small sponge brushes from the craft store, bad idea.  1-It took forever 2-It bled and left me with muddy edges.  So I switched to a small foam roller and rolled most of the paint off onto a paper towel first and then rolled over the stencil.  I'm no expert, but I realized very quickly that you don't need a lot of paint or you will get bleeding.  I really meant to take progress pictures, but I forgot.  

So here it is before putting the mirror up, bad iphone pic but the lighting is better on these....  

and altogether

and a few more pictures I took with my camera, it's dreary day here so they are a little dark....

and here's what it looked like about a year ago....

big difference huh?