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Tutorials & Tips Link Party {17}: Sneak Peek at Stenciled Entryway

Welcome to another Tutes & Tips party! If you’re new around here, this party is for you to showcase your latest tutorials and tips for all the blogosphere to enjoy.  Any tutes & tips are welcome, but I gravitate towards featuring decorating & home decor crafts (and the occasional chocolate recipe).

With the How to Decorate Series going on this month, I sort of miss you all! I want you to know that I’ve been busy sprucifying some things and will have fun showing them off in July. My front entryway isn’t quite complete yet, but I couldn’t wait to share some of the progress.

Here is a sort-of before pic. In the “true” before, I had a tiffany-style pendant fixture hanging from the ceiling, a red/yellow striped shower curtain covering the front door, and a picture frame w/ hooks on the wall.  I thought I had before pics of every square foot of my house, but apparently I’ve never photographed this area.

And here is the during! Awhile ago, one of my sponsors Royal Design Studios gave me one of their Allover Pattern Stencils to try. I’ve never stenciled before, so I was admittedly a bit nervous to try my hand at it.

Am I a stenciling master now? Um, no. Did I find it ridiculously easy to use? Again….{and a bit sheepish here} no. Was it totally worth the effort? Most definitely yes! Although my entryway is a small space, it is a tricky one. Cutting into corners with a large stencil proved challenging.  I didn’t purchase any stencil adhesive and about half way through the project I was wondering if I really should have. This project simply required a lot of patience on my part which was character building :)!

Royal Design Studios recommends using acrylic paint for its speedy drying time. Of course I didn’t like any of the colors I saw so had to complicate matters by concocting my own color. I used Folk Art acrylic paint in Sky Blue, and mixed it with Antique White and a few drops of Folk Art Antiquing Stain. My Mod Podge brushes seemed to work best for me. I wanted more depth and texture, so I swirled with my circle brush to create a pattern within the pattern.

So here is the almost after :). Today I painted the front door black, and tomorrow I will caulk and paint the board and batten. There is a closet on the opposite wall, and I’m thinking of doing something fun with those doors as well. Hopefully I will have a complete entryway to show you, but so far I am in love with it! (In case someone is wondering, that cute chandelier came from Ikea.)

So that is one of the many projects I have been up to the last few weeks.  How about you? I’m excited to see your latest!

Please link back to me with a text link at the end of your post or grab my blog button from the sidebar.  The party button is still giving many trouble and needs recoding. If you’re having trouble linking up, try first adding my homepage link {http://www.homestoriesatoz.com} at the end of your post and then link up to the party.



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  1. You did an amazing job on this stenciling project. It is much harder than it looks and you really showed so much patience to do so much of it. But the results are so worth it. Thanks for posting about the Royal Design Studios. I had never heard of them. I have always just made my own stencils and thankfully, they have come out pretty well. The stencil you picked is the same pattern I wanted for curtains, but couldn’t find in the colors I wanted to I had to make the pattern from scratch on photoshop and created a fabric on spoonflower. For my dining room area, I decided to go with wallpaper because stenciling would be too much, so kudos to you again!

  3. So I’m curious how long did it take? It looks awesome, and I’ve been considering doing a stencil myself, just trying to figure out if it’ll be worth the time investment for me.

  4. Beth, your entry looks great! I have to say, I totally agree with you about stenciling not being the most easy project….who would’ve thought?! I definitely built a lot of character during my stenciling projects….and nearly pulled my hair out in frustration in the process. Great job {love the color!!}

  5. If there’s any doubt, I’m in love with the entry. I love that you tell it like it is. It looks like a pain, and I’m glad you’re not leading me to believe otherwise! However, it’ll totally be worth it when you’re done. Love!

  7. Wow Beth, What a stunning entrance you have. Love your choice of color and the stencil. Love the way it seems to be shaded instead of a solid one color.
    ~ ~Ahrisha~ ~

  8. I just wanted to tell you how much I adore your projects…our taste seems to be exactly the same! Was only able to scim through…looking foward though to looking at ea project in entirity!

  11. I love, love, love that color! I’m guessing we also ran into similar challenges painting patterns in such small spaces… I just linked up my hallway stripe project, and I certainly had to use some creativity to get the stripes in the smallest of corners around doors. 🙂 Can’t wait to see the rest of your big reveal!

  12. Beth, your entryway is going to look fabulous! My goodness, what a difference! I love stencilling–have loved it since the mid-80’s, when I created all kinds of home decor items with motifs like ducks and geese (gotta love that country phase!). But I’ve never stencilled a whole wall. I’m betting you’re glad you were only stencilling above the board and batten!

    I linked up a recipe with you today. It’s not chocolate, but it is for a sinfully delicious and incredibly easy dessert–if you like coconut. I mean EASY, and absolutely delicious. Unfortunately, my photo didn’t upload, so I’m guessing not many people will click on my link. Shucks. I’m not sure what I did wrong–I cropped the photo and clicked on the right button, but it didn’t work. Oh, well. “The cake that will make you famous” is a good link, I promise!

    Hope you have a great week. Thanks for hosting a great party!

  13. Okay, update: I finally got it to work. I redid the link in my master list again. Hopefully it’s just a fluke. I can’t keep redoing it every week. Since it worked this time, I’ll just hope for the best. 🙂

  14. Hey Beth. I always like participating in your link party because you have awesome ideas and inspiration and so do your readers. But since you switched over, I’ve had trouble with the back link. Even though I have one, I’ve had to redo it each week. It’s getting annoying. I respect the need for the back link, but something is going wonky for me every week and it’s getting too time consuming.

  15. Oh, all I know is that I cannot wait to see this finished! This is something I would LOVE in my house! 🙂

    Crystal

  16. Beth your entryway looks FAB! I can’t wait to see it all finished! I have a question though – was it hard to mix the paint and get it the same color when (or if…) you ran out? I am always scared to make my own colors because I am afraid I will never have enough! 🙂

  18. Absolutely love the stencil! It looks amazing – beautiful quatrefoil pattern and color. Can’t wait to see the finished area!

  19. Beth, your entry looks amazing! I love quatrefoil and I love blue, so I’m especially partial to what you’ve done with your space. Good on you for tackling such a large space, stenciling can be TRICKY and there is lots of room for error. It looks like a pro did your project, you should be proud!

    Best,

    Kimberly

  29. Pretty pretty Beth! I love the color too. I found this small roller foam at hobby lobby, and I have to say it was awesome to stencil my stairs with. No overage or seeping through. Yours looked like it did not have a problem…however, the roller is half the time too.

  32. I love the color you made. I’ve been wanting to stencil the end of my hall but haven’t got up the courage yet. It adds so much to any space. Thanks for hosting again this week.

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