If you've been in anytime in the last 3 years, you may have noticed our very bright orange section in the back of the store. When we opened in our current space, we thought orange would be a fun pop of color...and it was. However, after 3 years of looking at that orange wall, I could no longer bear it. Orange isn't the easiest color to accessorize, especially since that section lovingly became our "baby" section. Mixing pale pinks and blues with "wahoo" orange presented quite the challenge. If you have forgotten or overlooked the orange wall, here's a reminder of just how orange it was.
After loving the makeover of my counter so much, I decided to tackle the great orange wall. I wanted something clean and more neutral the flowed with the rest of the store, and decided the big, bold stripes would do that. I used the "camel" color, which is painted throughout the rest of the store, and white, just to keep things simple.
Here's my supply list:
-Paint :white & camel
-2.5" angled paint brush
-Full sized paint roller & pan
-3-inch foam paint roller & mini-pan
-1 inch foam brush
-spackle & putty knife
-3M advanced edge-lock painters tape
-laser level
Usually, for tools, I'm try to make do with what I have. But for this project, I decided to invest in a laser level. Let me tell you...it's the best $38 I've ever spent. He has become my new best friend, and I'll explain why in a bit. Here's the one I went with:
Step one, was to pull all the furniture away from the wall, and tackle the gagillion nail holes I'd created over the past three years. Sometimes, in the store, I'll skip this step, but for this project, I wanted a clean slate. I use this spackle kit:
I love that it's goes on pink and dries white when it's time to sand, mainly because I tend to be a bit over-zealous and jump-the-gun a bit early when it's time to sand. This spackle lets me know when it's ready.
Day 1 was spent filling in nail holes, sanding, and then painting the entire space in the camel color. It took 2 coats to completely cover the orange, which resulted in this (please excuse the torn-apart, messy store):
Not bad, but I still think it need something more. The back of the store isn't privy to all the natural sunlight in the front, so I try to keep things as bright as possible. The old orange wall seemed to suck up all the artificial light, so I thought a white strip would fix that problem.
Once the first layer was dry, Day 2 started what I like to call "adventures in painters tape". Since I had purchased my laser level, I could minimally mark up my wall, and only had to measure the stripes once. I decided on a 12 inch strip, because anything smaller would have busied up the space too much. I started on one end and marked every 12 inches down the wall. Then came the tape. Since I have 12 foot ceilings here, there was a lot of ladder use (I'd love to know how many calories I burned throughout this project). Keep in mind, when you're taping for stripes, tape around the top coat stripe. Meaning, at every 12-inch tick mark, I taped above and below the space to be painted. So, once everything was taped, it appears that the stripes are uneven, but no worries, once that tape is gone, they're perfect.
To make sure my lines were level, I placed the laser level on the wall for the first line, found my "level spot" and then locked the level, so all my lines would match (and I wouldn't have to keep finding the spot). For each line, I'd place the level on the wall, and tape along the red laser beam. Here's my new friend in action:
You may notice that I never took the existing shelf down. That's because it was very securely bolted into the studs, and re-hanging it seemed like a nightmare. Thankfully, the shelf is less than 12 inches high, so I conveniently made sure it fell perfectly within one of the camel stripes, and simply painted around it.
Using my 3 inch foam roller, I painted two light coats of white paint in every other stripe. Once that dried, I pulled off all the painters tape and was left with this mass pile of tape (one and a half rolls worth, to be exact).
After all the tape was down, I want back and touched up any areas that needed help. I use a small foam brush, and clean up any edges or spots that maybe have dripped on leaked into the other striped. Here's the finished project, post tape removal. Isn't it gorgeous?
And here's the baby section, reassembled with it's new wall makeover. What do you think? Doesn't it brighten up the whole store? I think it's absolutely perfect, in all of it's beige and white striped glory (please excuse the poor-quality iPhone picture, per usual).
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