dressing up the stairs

During this time of the year, I find myself going through my craft binders for inspiration, holiday gift ideas or just for something that I have not done with the kids in a while.  In the last couple of weeks, between school and our other commitments, we have not had much extra time for crafting.  As I sat, flipping through the pages of one of my binders, I came across one project that caught my eye, so I thought I would share it...

The idea for a painted runner on the stairs came from a back issue of a Martha Stewart  magazine.  Although we did not even have stairs in our house when I came accross this idea, something about it struck me, so I ripped out the page to save for another time.  The process involved using painter's tape to tape off the are to be painted, then using a color to paint the designated area.  Sometime during the spring of this year, I decided that our stairs {yes, we have stairs now!} could use a little dressing up.  A painted runner was not exactly what I was looking to do, so I thought that perhaps a stencil might do the trick.

I purchased a vine stencil, a stiff stencil brush and some paint at the craft store.  I used three different stencil paints to achieve the color and shading that I was looking for.  The biggest tips I can give for doing stenciling anywhere in your home is 1) use painter's tape to hold your stencil in place each time you are painting it and 2) blott your brush in between collecting your stencil paint and touching it to the wall.  With stenciling, less is more, you can always go back and add more paint as you go. 

I was really pleased with how this turned out!  So pleased, that I decided to stencil around a doorway in our home aswell!  This is a fun day project that can make such a lovely difference in your home.  Just make sure that no one touches the stenciling for 12-24hours after it has been done, otherwise is could smear.  Most of all, have fun with this craft, be bold!  It is not meant to be perfect, infact it is the unique nature of the stencil that really gives it it's charm!

a.

Comments

[bylittlehands]

I love this!!!!! Just beautiful.