Post 4: THE WALL IS DONE!!!

It's done!  It's DONE!  ITTTT'SSS DOOONNNEEEEE!!!  After a very VERY long week Andrew and I have finally finished the geometric pattern wall that we've been working on!  I am so excited you guys.  It looks so much better than I even thought it would!  I'm so excited about my fab-o new wall and I want to show you guys how we did it so you can try it.  I originally got this pattern from a blog that I L-O-V-E called Before and After.  She got the pattern from another blog, which got it from another blog, and so on and so forth, yadda yadda yadda.  Anyway, I love this pattern.  It sort of reminds me of the Hollywood Squares of the Hollywood Regency look.  I'm totally into Hollywood Regency so this look works really well for me.  Now all I need is a funky Klismos and I'm set!  So here is how I went about getting this look: (WARNING: This post contains and ungodly amount of photos.)

Step 1: Paint the Wall
We chose to paint our living room Fountain Spout by Behr in order to lighten it up (See Post 3).  Therefore, Fountain Spout became our base color for the pattern, which turns out to be the color of your stripes.

It's OK Andrew, just sit back and relax.  I'll take care of the painting.

Step 2:  Calculate

This is the part of the project where it would be good if you have a personal accountant or engineer or something.  You need to measure your wall and try to calculate your measurements.  After sketching this out several times I decided to do 14.5" squares and space them 3" apart.  This didn't end up working out perfectly as my wall is not entirely symmetrical but I don't really care.  It's close enough for a flakey-non-mathematical designer.

Step 3:  Tape, Tape, Tape

OK Bloggettes.  Before you start this step you are going to want to take several moments to mentally prepare yourself for the mission you are about to embark on.  Maybe turn the lights low, light some incense and pray to whatever diety you see fit.  (You may also want to gather some friends and participate in a drum circle...it couldn't hurt.)  After you feel substantially prepared you are going to start taping straight lines according to the measurements that you have determined in Step 2.  From my experience, you are going to have the best results if you try to keep your pieces of tape as long as possible.  The more pieces of tape you use the more likely it is that you are going to have wavey, non-straight lines.  Oh and I also used Frog Tape instead of the regular blue painter's tape.  Frog Tape is sold at most hardware stores, I got mine from Home Depot.  I think it works a little better than the blue tape.

You may want to invest in a laser level for this step...$20 at Home Depot.  It literally saved my life.

Step 4:  Keep Taping

You may feel faint.  You may want to quit, but you can't.  You started this and you, my friend, have GOT TO FINISH IT.  Remember that drum circle you did before you started?  Remember that incense you lit and all of those prayers you prayed?  THAT WAS TO HELP YOU IN A TIME LIKE THIS.  NOW KEEP TAPING.

This is such a satisfying point to reach...until you realize you are only halfway done.

Step 5: Beer

Alright Bloggies, I understand that sometimes prayer and incense and drum circles can only get you so far.  So when you feel like you are on you breaking point.  When you feel like you may have made the biggest mistake of your life by starting this project.  When you feel like you just might rip it all down and live with a plain, old, boring wall.  GRAB A BEER.  Beer gives you perspective.  Trust me.  Take a break, enjoy a cold one, and look at all the progress you have made so far!  YOU CAN DO THIS.

Please notice the paint and frog tape behind the beer.  This project consumed my life.  Oh and by the way, I highly recommend The Stone Brewing Company's Stone IPA.  Very effective.

Step 6:  Tape Squares, Not Lines

At this point you are going to set your beer down and start taping squares.  The squares are going in the middle of the criss-crosses that you already taped.  You want to put a square on every other criss-cross, alternating rows.  At this point you will also need to take an exacto knife or box cutter and cut the centers out of each criss-cross.

Clancy was so helpful with this step.  Moral support is important.

It's starting to look so cool!

Step 7: Paint the Wall (Different from Step 1...but not so much.)

YOU ARE DONE TAPING!  Congrats!  The hard part is over!  Now you just get to paint over your beautiful tape art.  This may be difficult to do but trust me, the paint will look SO much better than the tape.

We used Rain Storm by Behr as our secondary color.

Your Frog Tape may bubble up but don't let that discourage you, it will still seal the paint out for the most part.

Step 8:  Remove that Tape!

And here it is, here is the point we've all been waiting for.  Slowly and carefully pull the tape off!  This is so exciting!  I'm so happy for you!  I told you that you could do this!

Go Andrew, go!

It's important to have friends witness this momentous occasion.  Thanks for helping Austin and Jasmin!

Almost there!

WE DID IT!!!

Can you see the spot that Andrew messed up?  It's OK, I will fix it today :)

I'm so happy with how our wall turned out.  After all of the work I think it was totally worth it.  What do you guys think of it?  I think everyone should have a fun, funky wall in their house!