How to Paint Perfect Wide Stripes

A bold, wide stripe on the walls makes a dramatic impact. Our foyer needed some pizzazz, so for an inexpensive fix (a can of paint) and cheap labor (me), I added a wide, 16 inch dark gray (Sherwin Williams Urbane Bronze) horizontal stripe to the wall. What do you think?

I wanted to break down the step-by-step for you in case you wanted to do something similar in your home. Here's the blank slate I was working with.

For this project, you'll need:

Paint and paint tray

Small paintbrush or small roller

Large roller

Ruler

Leveler

Pencil

Frog Tape

Ladder

The first thing I did was paint the entire wall the original paint color, it needed several touch-ups anyway. I bought Sherwin Williams Agreeable Gray, which is the color I thought the wall was, but later realized it's not. Agreeable Gray is slightly more gray than the wall, but just barely. I found this out when comparing the color to the adjacent wall.

First, measure the height of your wall and decide how wide you want your stripes. We have a tall wall, 114 inches (not including the crown). A 16 inch stripe meant 7.125 stripes, just about perfectly even.

Starting at the top, measure and mark in pencil 16 inches down until you reach the bottom. Then, use a leveler to ensure you draw a perfectly straight line.

After drawing your lines in pencil, tape above and below the pencil line to indicate the area you will be painting. To be extra sure I didn't paint the wrong part, I marked an "x" in the area I was NOT supposed to paint. Trust me, when you're that close to the wall, it helps!

I then used a paintbrush/small foam roller in the original paint color all along the edge of the tape to seal it. If any of your paint bleeds through the tape, it's the same color as the adjacent stripe!