Walls in the Studio

I’m calling it a studio, it makes me feel fancier.

Nathan calls it the she-shed and always asks me if I’ve burned it down yet (insert eye-roll).

ANYWAY - no matter what we call it, I needed it to be pretty if I was going to work out there.

I have had some people ask me how I did it. I wish I had taken better notes and pictures of HOW it actually happened, but I can share the process with you so that you can make your own spin on it if you so desire.

This is how I went from This to THAT.

I started with texture.
I picked up a piece of plexi glass and picked out some IOD stamps (if you don’t know what those are, you need to check them out ASAP - The IOD Sisters make some beautiful products to help you create with!)
I wanted to create design in the texture, and the stamps were a gerat way to do it.

Stamps + Plexi Glass

The stamps cling to clean flat surfaces, and so I got a piece of plexi glass, big enough to cover a wide area, but small enough for me to easily handle on my own. I picked out a pattern, and clung those stamps right to it. It is kind of hard to see, but I think you’ll get the idea.

Next step was to trowel the drywall mud on the wall. Then, use a fine mist sprayer and spritz your stamps. This will help them realease easily from the mud.
Give it an even press into the wet mud, making sure not to let it wiggle or slip, then pull it right off. There will probably be some suction, be firm and smooth whe you pull it back.

Don’t go into this expecting perfection in the results. You want the essence of the shapes and texture. If you are looking for perfect images, this might not be the technique for you to follow.

You can see the line in the mud, below. If you get those don’t stress, just come back with a hand trowel or pallet knife and drag or smooth any rough edges and lines.

Don’t be scared!

Don’t be scared of the drywall mud. it is actually very forgiving, and workable for quite a while. If you stamp it and you aren’t happy, trowel it back and start again.

Dream Time…

It’ll take a day or two for the texture to dry. Spend this time dreaming up what colors you want to layer on these hand textured walls.

Colors and Tools

I love Blues and Greens, and Yellow always speaks to my heart - and orange is just my favorite. I chose a toupey grey because I wanted to try and merge sleek white and abandonded fringes into the same space. Is Vintage Mod a thing?

I used a combination of laytex paint (my base white), plaster paint that I mix myself, and DIY Paint by Debi’s Design Diary (Which is basically the most magical paint on the planet, but I have to drive over an hour to get my hands on it, so I work with what I have.)

With the exception of my base coat, I turned all of my laytex colors into plaster paint with the following recipe. I have been using it for years
and the paint holds up very nicely:

Plaster Paint Recipe:
Start with a clean container
1/3 Cup of cool water
Stir in 1/3 Cup of Plaster of Paris
Mix Well
Pour in any color - Flat, Laytex Sample
Mix well immediately (if you let it sit, it’ll turn into a rock)

BACK TO THE PROJECT:

Start White

I used Behr Paint and Primer in one. The color was “Night Blooming Jasmine”

Here is where I didn’t do the best job of keeping up with the HOW of the process….My hands were dirty so I wasn’t using the camera much. My explanation will have to suffice.

I used wet sea sponge and a chip brush to start applyig the yellow. I’d brush it on and then blend it out with the sea sponge.
I knew that I wanted the middle of that back wall to stay white, but I also wanted to blend into it. I had that hideous electrical panel to work around as well…but the alternative was to pick a different end of the shop that didn’t have double doors I can open up for natural light. Elecrical panel seemed like a mild trade off.

I kept the corner seams saturated with color, and blended out from there, creating this asymmetrical frame around my white.

Over the stamped texture, I wanted to really highlight those shapes and all the lettering. I wanted it to feel like pieces of torn, aged paper. I would let the paint into the crevices in the texture and then blot it out with my sponge. Keep a bucket of clean water near by. the cleaner your sponge the more control you have over where the paint moves and blots.

Next came a washing of teal. I swiped on plaster paint with a putty knife near the ceililing, and then trailig down around all of the texture that I wanted to stand out. My method was Dionne-esque (If you like this sort of thing, you NEED to go follow her at “The Turquoie Iris” - she is on FB, IG, & YouTube)

So swipe the color on with a putty knife and then immediately drench it with water and let it run. I use a fine misting bottle that I got at Sally’s Beauty Supply.

(P.S. I have no idea if I am allowed to write down these brand names of things in a blog post - Someone give a girl a heads up if it isn’t okay, would ya?)

Also, YES. You will end up with puddles on the floor. I used drop cloth…and honestly didin’t care much abou the sub floor, I hadn’t put down the actual flooring yet.

Look at how the texture grabs the color (This is where I do a little happy dance…also, I make a lot of facial expressions and it is so hard to write these days without emojis.)

The next series of pictures is going to be multiple layers…I just started creating and got lost in the process. I was trying to keep track with pictures, but sometimes my "Go-Mode” kicks in and there isn’t time for pictures.

I took DIY’s Farm Fresh and a chip brush and I layered it in - filling white space, and marrying the layers together.
At this point, I took the toupey grey plaster paint that I had made and watered it down probably half plaster paint/half water. I took that sea sponge and submerged it in the mixture. I rung it out most of the way…but not 100%. I took it and did a blot and squeeze motion up the walls. I wanted the imperfect texture of the sea sponge to come through, but I also wanted the slightest drip.

Then came stencils
First, a more delicate gold one.
Followed by the bigger round ones,
And then the DIY Orange Crush.

I kinda wish I had stopped the whole thing right here. I loved it. But I couldn’t help but wonder what it would look like with some DIY Bohemian Blue. And I wanted to try some wax to blend it all together a little better.

I mixed up a squirt bottle of water with a little Bohemian Blue in it. Not a fine mist sprayer - a squirt bottle…you don’t want a jet stream, but a heavier spray than the mister thingy gives you.
Spray it and let it run.
I’ll admit, I had a moment of remorse at this point. I loved the color, but it really darkened the whole thing up.
And you see the splotchiness over on the side wall? I wasn’t digging it. I felt like I had lost my mesh between modern and vintage.

Enter WAX!!!
I used a combination of brown and white wax. I blended until I thought my shoulders were going to crawl off my body.
BUT LOOK AT THOSE DETAILS!!!! YES!!!! Now we are back to the happy dance, people!!

Flooring and trim brought the whole thing together. It was absolutely worth the work.

If you decide to go for it, I want to see!!

Go make something beautiful in the world…

Even if it is in a shed, just for yourself.
XO-Shaelyn