There are tools that allow us change the appearance of a room simply and inexpensively, and yet they are not very popular with us. Stencils for painting walls, also known as stencils, are an example of this.
With stencils for painting walls you can transform a room in a few hours. They will make it easier for you to create repeating patterns on the walls that will add interest to the room. But they will also allow you to create isolated motifs that draw attention to a certain corner. Learn more about these!
What are stencils?
Stencils are templates made of a specific material that they serve to stamp motifs on a surface by passing the color through the cuts made on it. A more exact definition can be found in the Dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy:
stencil
From English. stencil.
1. m. Arg., Bol., Chile, C. Rica, Cuba, Méx., Nic., Pan., R. Dom. And Ven. Specific material template for stencil.
stencil
From lat. extergēre 'wipe, clean'.
1. tr. Stamping drawings, letters or numbers by passing the color, with a suitable instrument, through the cuts made in a sheet.
Buy or create your own template
In the market you will find numerous stencils for painting walls made of plastic materials that you can reuse over and over again. The templates that imitate the motifs of hydraulic tiles, as well as those with geometric or floral motifs are the most popular.
What happens if we are not convinced by any template? Then we can create our own templates from our own drawings or others that we find online. For this you will need basic knowledge in the handling of some Photoshop-like design program and a printer that allows printing on plastic sheets. Having one is not usual, but it is not usually a problem to find a copy shop in our cities.
Don't you need something so professional? If creativity and skill is what you have left over, you can create your own templates using perforated plastic spacers, those that we used to organize documents at home, and a well-sharpened cutter.
Apply the stencil to paint walls
Once you have your decorative template, it is time to prepare the paint and get your hands dirty. But where do you start? If your idea is to repeat the same pattern symmetrically throughout the wall, the ideal would be to draw a vertical line in the center of the wall to serve as a guide for creating the first line of the pattern.
In any case, once you have chosen the place where you are going to place the template, the next step will be stick it to the wall with the help of a little masking tape. We want to think that before you have taken care of covering floors and other surfaces that could stain, right?
Once the template is prepared, you can apply the paint in different ways. You can paint the wall using a paint roller to achieve a uniform drawing or apply the paint by tapping with a sponge to achieve a worn effect. If you have several stencils that you can stick to the wall, an airbrush can also be a good alternative. Choose the technique that you like the most or that is most comfortable for you and get to work!
Once the paint has been applied with the first template, it is time to peel it off and place it in a new position. Most wall painting stencils have clear explanations to align them so that the pattern is perfect, so you just have to follow these.
Make sure to clean their stencil every now and then and change the masking tape to avoid dragging the paint when you change the stencil or the entire job will be affected. And feel free to check that repeating patterns save horizontal and vertical lines from time to time.
Now that you know how to use the stencils to paint walls, will you dare to change the appearance of your walls with these?