My New Wall- Royal Design Studio Stencil

Ok, this actually turned out even cooler than I had pictured it in my head! The lovely folks at

sent me a super fun stencil to try out and I had a terrific experience. I am pretty new to stenciling and still working up me nerve to tackle an entire wall, but these stencils may have given me the confidence I needed! The RDS website has tons of inspiration and after drooling over their designs for a new decade inspiration page I could hardly pick just one stencil! Check out this awesome idea...

First of all, the stencil came with a bunch of helpful and much needed information to get me started on the right foot. They also have lots of how-to's on their website to make you an expert.

I was debating if I should do the whole wall, but totally chickened out and decided to try just a portion of the big blank wall in my dining room.

I grabbed all of my supplies and got ready for some fun.

I used painters tape and a level to be sure my stencil would go on just perfectly....however I should have also centered it better...more on that later.

 I used a small roller, but RDS also recommends using a stenciling brush. I am just more comfortable with my roller. RDS also recommends cutting your paint with a faux glaze, which I didn't have on hand and I wanted to do this, like now, so I went on with my straight up latex paint. I dipped my roller in the paint and then used my extra plate to remove paint so it would go on thin and hopefully not bleed.

I decided to paint 2 of my shapes a contrasting color so I carefully avoided certain spots to fill in after the rolling.

I used a brush to paint that shape black and then moved my stencil over to continue the pattern.

Royal Design Studio uses these little cut out guides so you can line your stencil up perfectly as you work across a large surface.

As you can see, I still had some bleeding. I am pretty sure these extremely textured walls were not helping in this issue!

I had a bunch of touch up work to do, but here it is all finished painting!

Here is where the second part of my plan kicked into gear. I used the fence I scored for free on Craigslist to build a frame. You remember that wood, right? I used it for my headboard, my window treatment, and  wall art for my son's room. I love this wood.

I cut and screwed and here is my finished wall!

I totally love it and think it is super cool.

However, let's get back to the centering and measuring issue. I thought I had the stencil centered but AFTER I had the entire frame installed, I realized I am about 2 inches too far to the right....der. I do junk like this all the time. Will I ever learn to "measure twice and cut once?" One day...maybe. So I got to rip half of the frame off the wall and remeasure, cut and install to get it looking good.

I really like the 2 black stars too-just giving it a little extra visual interest.

Don't forget to come back Wednesday morning at 6 am for my day of giveaways!

Hmmm, wonder if Royal Design Studio will be giving away something tomorrow?

(psst, YES!)

Toodles!