Imitating Wallpaper

Have you ever been asked to replicate wallpaper? Maybe it is out of print now, or other reasons for a client to want this done. I just finished a job where wallpaper was the inspiration for a powder room.

I started by chalking in some of the design -using two stencils -to give the client an idea of the process. Chalk is a wonderful tool to express ideas directly on the wall, just wipe off the mistakes,  paint directly over the guides and keep going!

I began the stenciling -after doing the math- so on each wall the design would stop at the corners. I started with the stencil "as is", but knew I would need to alter it to make the gold design come out right.

Here comes the chalk again. I began to add ornament to the stenciled shape, making it wider and longer.

Here is the finished design, closely resembling the wallpaper graphics.

Now, time to add the gold! This is what makes the design so wonderful. If you have a sharp eye, you realize I have done all of this in reverse. The wallpaper was gold background with blue silkscreen design-which is what drove their cost up! By reversing the process, I used less gold to keep cost down but had issues to solve where the design met the background.

Here are the finished walls. I had to trowel blue paint over gold and gold paint over blue around the edges of the stencil to make the color crossover work. I also did some negative stenciling over the gold in blue to add to the design. The client is very happy and I enjoyed the whole process. Always think outside the box with stenciling, they are usually just the beginning of a creative process.