Pattern Painting: A Bathroom Refresh
I did not get a before with this bathroom refresh, but outdated this outdated bathroom got a fun, fresh, updated look.
So in this blog I want to discuss the look, the process, and how you can achieve beautiful results with this DIY. So Let's start with "the look"!
Discussing The Look:
This bathroom really needed an update, but with a tight budget. Since I wasn't going for a full blow bathroom remodel paint was the best way to update the room. Let me be the first to tell you, paint can be your BEST friend. If you can't fully "reinvent the wheel" with your space paint can go a long way.
If you look to the right you'll notice this little mood board. This was my inspiration board for this bathroom refresh. I wanted to stay light and bright, but create something bubbly and updated.
Check the bottom of this blog post for "shop the look links"!
The Process:
These are the products I used and they were all super easy to find!
I used Sherwin Williams for my paint colors. The beautiful blue is called Sky High and for the pattern I used Extra White.
I already had my tape measure, paint tray, and paint roller frame, but these can all be easily found with the other products!
Everything else was purchased from Walmart. Again this is all super easy to find, just go to the paint section!
Now throw on some music and let's get started!
Your VERY first step with painting is cleaning the walls. I go over the wall with a dry rag first. Next I use a bowl of water with a few drops of dish soap added. I dip my rag, ring it out really good, and then get to scrubbing.
Once the walls are all cleaned up I lay a drop cloth down. Since my painting projects are pretty spread out I just grab a cheap, plastic, drop cloth and toss it once I'm done. Then comes the tape! For this project I used a TON of tape, but first the basics. I am a little OCD with my lines and I'm also a little impatient when actually painting. I tape off the trim, the ceiling, and anything else in the room that is not movable.
Now that everything is prepped for painting I started this project with my blue base. I used the roller to paint everything! I used Sherwin Williams Sky Blue in their "Captivate Paint and Primer" in a Satin finish and I applied 2 coats.
Once the walls were dry I started taping out my pattern. I think we should talk a little bit about repeats before we go any farther. Whenever you create a pattern (not a mural, a pattern) you are going to get a "repeat". If you are not aware, a repeat is exactly what it sounds like, a place in the pattern that repeats itself. I wanted to have 3 repeats across the entire wall. I measured out how wide each rectangle needed to be to start out. To create your pattern you can create your repeats from left to right or vis versa. I decided to start my repeat from the middle just in case my measurements were slightly off (example below).
Image 1 Starting Repeat Image 2 Second Repeat Image 3 Final Repeat
If you can't get around the mirror, you might as well take a good selfie right?
Anything that is blue was space that I taped off. I used a 2" thick painters tape and spaced my tape 1.5" apart all the way around to get the smaller rectangles until I reached the smallest rectangle in the repeat. You will want to smooth out all the tape with a credit card or a wallpaper smoothing tool.
You could tape off everything or work in sections. I worked in sections, working on one repeat at a time. Once my first repeat was taped out I started painting. I only needed a quart of paint so I used Sherwin Williams Extra white in Emerald in a Satin finish. When painting the white over the blue I used 2+ coats of paint, until I had my desired brightness. If I could have done anything differently it would have been to just get a gallon of Extra White in Captivate instead of Emerald. The Emerald I bought was not a paint and primer, but was the smallest the had. Since it was not a paint AND primer I had to use more coats to get my desired look.
After each of my repeats were taped out and painted over, I allowed the paint to dry. The most satisfying part of the process was peeling the tape off! Getting to see the results of the hard work was so great, but look closely. You may need to touch your paint up!
With your left over paint and a brush, go over any places that may not be perfectly straight and/or any other touch ups you may need. Allow those touch ups to dry and finally stand back to admire your creation!
I love painting projects. They can be tedious, but it can also be relaxing. I hope you enjoyed this post and that it inspires you to be creative! Be sure to follow along on social media to keep up with future projects.
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