Easy DIY Faux Wallpaper

While coming up with the design for his bedroom makeover, we decided to do wallpaper on the wall behind his bed. But after searching online, we couldn’t find anything we were in love with. So we thought, why not paint our own faux wallpaper? Not only would this be fun, but it would add a personal touch to his room!

Part of his new decor included two pieces art. We decided to pull out one of the elements from the art and use it as our pattern for the wall.

In the picture above, there is a basket weave pattern running down the middle of the artwork. This is what we decided to go with. Basically, it is made up of groups of three lines alternating between vertical and horizontal.

We may or may not have chosen that because it would be the easiest to replicate.

Layout the Pattern

For us it was important that the pattern fit nicely on the wall. We needed a way to visualize it without making a bunch of pencil marks. So we took the measurements of the wall and Henry whipped up a quick mockup in Sketchup. From this we were able to adjust the spacing until we got the look we wanted.

Tape Off a Grid

After we had the spacing nailed down, we used painter’s tape to create a grid on the wall. This would ensure that our pattern would be straight and evenly spaced.

We started by making our first mark 7 inches from the baseboard and then 10 inches apart both vertically and horizontally. The 10 inches would account for the size of the three marks and 6 inches of space in between.

Once we had all of our marks, we added our strips of horizontal and vertical strips of tape.

Make a Stencil

I had originally thought about eyeballing the spacing between each of the three marks, but wisely decided that it might be two uneven. So Henry made a stencil out of some poster board we had laying around.

Using a stencil would allow us to paint quicker and achieve even spacing.

Paint the Pattern

We considered a couple of different options for applying the paint, but ultimately decided that a sponge would create a nice irregular shape.

We used a 4 inch foam brush and cut the pointed tip off of it.

For the paint, we chose Sherwin Williams Tricorn Black in a flat finish.

We practiced on a scrap sheet of paper to figure out the right amount of paint to have on the brush. After a few tries, we determined that it was best to dip the brush in the paint, and then wipe off the majority of it before pressing the sponge in each of the three holes in the stencil.

Once we had the technique down, we both started applying it on the wall. We lined the upper left corner of the stencil up with the upper left corner of each box. Then we pressed the end of the sponge into each hole in the stencil. 

As we moved to the next box, we rotated the stencil 90 degrees creating a basket weave pattern. 

We continued until we had painted in all of the boxes.

Remove the Tape

Overall this was a very easy project, but removing the tape was the easiest part of the whole process. Since we didn’t paint on top of the tape, it was simply a matter of grabbing the end of a strip and pulling it off. That simple!

We were both so happy with the way our first attempt at faux wallpaper turned out! And the room looked fantastic when we moved the furniture back in and added some other decor elements. 

But the best part is that our son absolutely loves it!

Before

After