Beyond Paint
Decorating Walls With Stencils
by The Do It Yourself Home Decorating Network
Painting walls in various colors is a quick and easy way to decorate any
room in your home. But when you're looking for something a bit more artistic
and unique, you might try your hand at stenciling.
Stencils come in a variety of forms: Simple geometric shapes
to elaborate scenery. Really good stencils can actually reproduce famous
paintings and designs too.
A simple room decoration stencil pattern to start with is
borders. Stenciling borders can be done in addition to existing wallpaper,
or as a replacement. Stenciled borders can be repeated geometric designs, or
more detailed repeating patterns such as vines, flowers or leaves. Borders
can also be placed at the top of a wall, the bottom, or in dead center for
variating effects and design influences.
Stencils allow you to create friezes as well. This is done
simply by starting with a strong contrasting color at the top, and carried
downward through gradually fading tints until they are lost in the general
color of the wall.
There once was a pink and silver room belonging to a young
girl, where the salmon-pink walls were deepened in color at the top into
almost a tint of vermilion which had in it a trace of green. It was, in
fact, an addition of spring green dropped into the vermilion and carelessly
stirred, so that it should be mixed but not incorporated. Over this shaded
and mixed color for the space of three feet was stenciled a fountain-like
pattern in cream- white, the arches of the pattern rilled in with almost a
lace- work of design. The whole upper part had an effect like carved
alabaster and was indescribably light and graceful.
This is an example of very delicate and truly artistic
treatment of stencil-work, and one can easily see how it can be used either
in simple or elaborate fashion with great effect.
Irregularly placed floating forms of Persian or Arabic
design are often admirably stenciled in color upon a painted wall; but in
this case the colors should be varied and not too strong. A group of forms
floating away from a window-frame or cornice can be done in two shades of
the wall color, one of which is positively darker and one lighter than the
ground. If to these two shades some delicately contrasting color is
occasionally added the effect is not only pleasing, but belongs to a
thoroughly good style.
One seldom tires of a good stenciled wall; probably because
it is intrinsic, and not applied in the sense of paper or textiles. It
carries an air of permanency which discourages change or experiment, but it
may take a bit of practice to do well.
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