An $8 Makeover Transforms a “Sad and Dingy” Entryway into a Striking Statement Wall
Some of the best home projects are ones that look great and cost next-to-nothing. Katherine Hill’s (@katherineclairehill) entryway makeover only cost $8. That was for painter’s tape, and she used paint left over from other rooms.
“The white paint is from our kitchen ceiling, the green from my office, and the blue from our living room,” Katherine explains. She gave her living room a new, striped look after finding some cool theater chairs on Facebook Marketplace for $75. Compared to the chairs, “the wall felt so boring,” Katherine says. “I wanted something fun and eclectic right as you walked in the front door.”
The white wall was last painted in the 1960s.
Katherine first gave the “sad and dingy white wall” a fresh coat of white paint (Behr’s Bit of Sugar.) Then, she created guidelines for her stripes. “This was my first time painting stripes!” she says.
She watched some TikToks for suggestions, spaced her stripes 5 inches apart using a ruler and level, and added her painter’s tape onto the wall following those lines.
“I then did a layer of the base color again to help seal the paint and to help with bleeding,” Katherine explains. “Once that dried, I painted every other stripe Palm Leaf by Sherwin Williams … It’s a somewhat tedious project making sure your lines are straight and waiting for paint to dry, but other than that, it’s a pretty beginner-friendly project.”
Don’t be afraid to make mistakes with paint, the homeowner says.
Katherine’s best advice for painting stripes on the wall? Do two coats, and pull off your painter’s tape while the paint is still slightly white for extra-crisp lines.
That, and “don’t be scared, and just go for it! It’s just paint and can always be fixed or changed if you don’t like it.” For example, Katherine plans to repaint the trim in her entryway eventually.
“I painted the trim the same color as the living room (Thermal by Behr), and while it’s pretty, it feels a little bit like a circus, so I’ll be repainting it white,” she says. But she loves the stripes and the backdrop they provide for the chairs.
“I love how bold and fun it is!” she says. “It makes me happy every time I open the front door or walk into the living room.”
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