Q-and-a: floral dimension
Dear Debbie;
I am redecorating our guest room on a budget. I’d like some design on the walls, but don’t want the expense of wallpaper. Is stenciling out of date? Are there more contemporary designs? Shantel
Dear Shantel;
Painting and stenciling will always be a great replacement for expensive wallpaper. You can emulate special effects such as marbling, inlays, and relief. Or build a mood with motifs that characterize your theme.
A stenciled design can run across the wall, over window frames, even onto floors. There are so many options. I have always liked the feeling of dimension and painterly style that stencils offer.
One of my favourite examples is the bedroom vignette shown here. The background is a rich shade of lilac, a cheerful and peaceful colour in its own right. I wanted to build on this mood, and chose to stencil a series of flowers that appear to float across the room.
I photocopied and enlarged a picture of a single poppy to make the stencil. I made a large grid of vertical and horizontal lines as a guide to stagger the poppies in a symmetrical pattern. (Use chalk as it is easy to wipe off.)
One line of poppies is positioned at the point where the lines cross. On the next row, the poppies are at midpoints from the line above.
I doubt that stenciling will ever go out of date. However, styles change and popular new motifs are continually appearing. You will also note that large print designs are on trend now.
You have many options. Check out modern stencil designs on line: stencil-library.com and royaldesignstudio.com are excellent sources with lots of graphics and funky designs from which to choose.