Stenicillin

So this is my first time stencilling. The internet informs me that it will be a breeze, but the internet is full of lies, blogging housewives and fake lesbians, so I'm not sure how much I trust it. I lined up the stencil in the middle of the floor to start with. This turned out to be a huge mistake, because of the spacing. More on that later. 

 

 

Once the stencil is placed, its just a matter of getting most of the excess paint off the roller and rolling over it. The site I was looking at for instructions emphasizes using a brush/roller that looks nearly dry. This totally goes against my inner need to load my brush with tons of paint (for efficiency!) and was a struggle for me to dab it all off, but was very good advice.  The areas where I used a little more paint were problematic.

 

 

Because the roller is mostly dry, the design dries pretty quickly. I painted, then waited three or four minutes, then painted again, waited a few minutes and moved the stencil. It was also boring and annoying. 

 

Here's the first set. I wish I would have gotten a smaller version of this stencil, as it was difficult to maneuver in the small space. Initially I had intended to leave the spacing as it is so that the design looked like a runner down the center. It's hard to see, but the design doesn't quite finish on the left hand side, so I had to go back and paint the left side of the little boxes with diamonds in them. 

 

Rinse and repeat, and I made it to the other end of the hallway. Obviously it still needs some filling in. 

 

When I was filling in the doorway space, I decided I preferred the pattern going all the way to the border, so I started filling in both sides as well. I like the way it looks like tile. Originally I was going to use silver paint for this design, but I like how understated it is with the grey.  I still have a few places to fill in, but I'm hoping to start sealing it tomorrow. The gross yellow walls, door, and mouldings are also killing me, they may be the next order of business.