Seeking Lavender Lane

Jan

05

Stamp Wallpaper

Alright major confession before you get too far…this is not going to be a pretty post…yet. I am in the process of doing a makeover in the powder room and wanted to break down each step with you. I think I am most excited for the stamp wallpaper accent wall that I did. I was not quite sure if this was going to work out or if there were any tutorials out there explaining how to do this. I thought about stenciling the entire bathroom, but honestly I’m a little lazy for stencils lol. I love the idea of stencils, but I feel halfway through the project I may get to antsy and want to give up. I am one of those quick results kind of people. I hate waiting days or even hours for a project to be complete, I can’t ever wait for the finished look!

So I really wanted to accomplish a wallpaper look, but without the wallpaper crazy process and same goes with the stenciling. I am going to admit this is probably the easiest way to achieve that look! and super cheap! My theme for the room was a Parisian rustic dramatic look (what else is new).  I think small spaces are usually a space that we think should be decorated bright and clutter free to make the space look bigger…but here I feel that in a powder room since you’re not getting much more space might as well go bold and dramatic.

Materials

Stamp 

 Stamp pad

Level

Pencil

The first process was to paint the entire bathroom. I’ll share the before picture during the reveal, but for now I’ll just share that I did the beadboard in a deep gray and then went white and bright on the walls. Once I had my white walls I knew I wanted to do something dramatic to them. I think in my head I was imagining a repetitive pattern almost like a warn vintage french postal marking. Instead I found this pretty hydrangea flower (which totally feels french to me). I went about creating a grid using my level to draw straight lines with a pencil and repeating the pattern throughout the wall. Spacing out the image enough to not become too busy. The important part about using the stamp is to use ink…just as you would on paper. It very well can work with paint, but using the ink adds that clean lines to the stamp image. After the first two lines I think I was becoming slightly doubtful on the look, but I knew I had to at least complete the wall to see what I had pictured in my head. The hubby kept walking back into the room and glance over at the wall for a few second and then admit that he just didn’t get it and didn’t see the vision…but he trusted my “designer vision” for it.

Stamp Wallpaper Tutorial

So after I say about an hour I had the wall complete. The hardest part is just drawing the lines and making sure your measurements were right. Since I’m so impulsive the first two lines I thought I could wing it and try lining them up without using a measuring tool….well of course that didn’t work out so well and my first two lines are…yep…crooked. Shhh…you’ll never know! So go the extra mile and be sure to measure. Once you get the stamp on, it really is impossible to fix with paint, especially if you’re going with white walls like I chose. I tried correcting one of the stamps and it barely covered I would of had to at least do 3 more coats to get that covered well.

Stamp Wallpaper 1

The good thing the stamp dries really quickly and the project should go really smoothly if you mark all your lines. I considered doing the whole room, but kind of loved how the one wall looked. I plan on adding some frames to the wall with maybe a little trip to Homegoods tomorrow. I chose to do some of my stamps faded and some bold…only because I thought it gave that illusion of a warn postage look. It was just my preference here and I like that look. You can for sure do each stamp exactly the same pressure making sure to press on each corner and side of the stamp to make a perfect image. I think it’s different and something you have yet to see. I’m sure it will become one of the conversation pieces in our home (even though  I think my entire house at this point is a conversation piece).

Stamp Wallpaper 3

We have a whole lot more coming up for this room including some floating shelves, and some decorative accessories. Unfortunately, I don’t have the original original before. When we first moved in the powder room was one of the first projects we hit. We changed out the sink and the toilet since they were both old and ugly. There was actually wallpaper in this room originally too  just awful looking. So I will only be able to share the way the bathroom looked with those changes already done, but it for sure felt really boring. Already the room feels so dramatic and unique, can’t wait to complete the look and share with all of you. Keep watch for step 2!

Stamp Wallpaper 4

Stamp Wallpaper 2

Stamp Wallpaper Tutorial Logo

Linking With: savvysouthernstyle.net

PLEASE STAY A WHILE

Dark Gray Accent Wall

DIY WASH sign

DIY “WASH” Sign for Kids Bathroom

Share the post:

Hi! I'm Deb

I love a well designed home and I believe you can create this on every type of budget. Follow along here and join me for more seasonal inspiration, trend alerts, DIY , vintage styling, and our newest project, The Mountain Chateau.

Fleur & Flame

Hand poured, soy-wax, European inspired candles

Quick links

28 Responses

  1. Deb, this is absolutely gorgeous! The stamp is a great alternative to wallpaper and stencil. And I can relate to the impatient thing as well. 🙂 I love the black, dark gray and white together. I can’t wait to for the bathroom reveal.

  2. Deb, love how this wall looks!! I love stenciling but have been wanting to try using stamps too. I would have done the same thing with the not measuring and then realized I needed to measure process…it’s just so much faster to not measure, right?! Anyway, you did an amazing job on the wall!! It looks really beautiful!!
    Keri recently posted…Repurposed Table into Puppet StandMy Profile

    1. Thanks Keri! Glad I’m not the only impulsive DIYer out there lol. It always gets me in trouble. Glad you stopped by, you will for sure have to try out stamping a wall!

  3. I pretty much love every room in your house! You have absolutely beautiful taste and so much talent! So glad I found your blog!!!

  4. I absolutely love this! I was thinking about stamping a wall in my bathroom, as well. The problem is that my bathroom has a shower. I was worried that it might need to be sealed because of the moisture, but I wasn’t sure how the stamp ink would react with that.

    1. Hi Amy thank you so much! Yes, I would probably think the same. Maybe would need to test it ahead of time.

You'll also love

Looking for something?