I love, love, love striped walls in a home- they add visual interest, drama and major style! I know the idea can be a little intimidating sometimes though so I compiled some tips for you guys that I’ve learned through a lot of experience and trial and error. The most important things to remember are: grab a glass of wine; take your time; and realize it’s okay if it’s not absolutely perfect.

Okay, here are my insider tips:

1. When deciding whether you’d like to go with a horizontal stripe or a vertical stripe consider that horizontal stripes make a room appear more spacious while vertical stripes will make the ceiling appear higher. Both look great so whatever you prefer!
   
   
2. You will need to purchase enough of the lighter colored paint to completely base coat the walls (seems obvious but trust me…).
   
   
3. Once you’ve painted the base coat let it dry for 48 hours before working on the stripes (this isn’t always an option but it is ideal).
   
   
4. To find the uniform size for your stripes you need to calculate the circumference of the room. If you’re striping a 12’x 12’ room you have a grand total of 48 feet. Break this down to the number of inches- (48x12) to get 576 total inches. Divide your total inches by what you think you’d like your stripe size to be (say 6 inches) and make sure the resulting number is even and whole. In this case 576/6 is 96 so 6-inch stripes work!
   
   
5. I would recommend keeping your stripes between 4 and 12 inches; anything smaller will be dizzying and anything larger is too heavy.
   
   
6. To mark off your stripes use a level and a pencil (this step can take quite awhile… grab a glass of wine, trust me).
   
   
7. Remove the tape from the stripes when the paint is still wet so you don’t pull any paint off with the tape.

When you’re deciding on paint colors for your stripes I say get creative- you can go for subdued glam with gray and white or go for complimentary colors from the same color family like we did in Whitney’s room makeover. Here’s some visual inspiration for you guys:

I’d love to know- are you a fan of the striped look too? Would you ever go for stripes in your home?

Photos: veryloveleigh, Design Sponge, Pinterest, The Decorista, decor pad, inside the loop