What the Faux {Moulding}?!

Tutorial:  How To Paint Faux Moulding

On Monday I showed you my fabulous painted headboard.  It was part of my master bedroom makeover.  Ever since Indy ate the wall, the master bedroom has been crying out for some fixin up.  Awhile ago I fell in love with faux moulidng, and nothing else would satisfy my craving.

Karl always said our room was Argentina-Flag-Themed.  No offense to any Argentinians who read my blog, but I wasn’t thrilled about my master bedroom resembling a flag.

I had a vision.  (My drawing skills… not so much.)

I measured my walls and made a series of incoherent notes.  I needed to make sure that my panels were balanced and symmetrical.

Then I started on the headboard wall by priming, painting it white, and taping.

Corners were tricky.  Tape doesn’t curve well.  I tested a few methods.  I traced a dinner plate on the wall, then used a series of small pieces to create a curved line.  But as you can see, that only works for one side.

My next method was to still trace a plate on the wall to get the curve just right.  I put a piece of tape on the plate, and cut it.

It was getting late, and I wanted to put our bed back.  I can NOT sleep in a messy room.  So I would have to finish the rest of the faux molding later in the week.

The undercoat of paint is Snowbound White by Sherwin-Williams.  Aaron always wanted to be Vanna White.  I told him it was now or never.

When taping, I start with the middle panel.  I used a little piece of tape as a marker where the middle of the wall was.  From there, I was able to measure out either side of the panel.  I put two more markers in those spots.

Then I was able to start taping the shapes.  Make sure you use a level the entire time.  This will ensure straight lines.

I taped squares, then figured out the curved corners.  This time around, I put several pieces of tape on the wall, traced the plate on top of those, and lightly used a razor blade to cute that.  It worked the best of all.

And the brothers napped.

And the sun went down.

And the paint got rolled.

And the tape came off.

On the headboard wall I used Frog Tape.  I ran out, and apparently I cleaned out the entire Salt Lake valley out of 2″ Frog Tape.  I couldn’t find it anywhere.  I had to use Scotch Blue for the rest of the walls.  Nothing like a good side by side comparison.  Now would be a good time to tell you that there is a MAJOR difference between the two.  I am not affiliated with Frog Tape OR Scotch Blue, so this is 100% transparent.  The pictures speak for themselves.

 The color balance is a little different in each picture, because of the way the sun shines on the different walls.  

While neither tapes are fool proof, Frog Tape is far superior to Scotch Blue.  The bleeding was constant with Scotch Blue.  It created a fuzzy line 100% of the time.  The Frog Tape was much crisper.  There are only a few little bleeds.  You only notice when you’re face is right up to it.  It would take a crazy amount of work to touch up every single area where the Scotch Blue leaked.

This post is long enough, so make sure to come back tomorrow for the  full room reveal and source list.  I will also be giving you the secret formula created by me and Sherwin-Williams for knock-off Restoration Hardware’s Slate paint color.

What’s the craziest pattern you’ve taped/painted?

Come see the entire finished Master Bedroom Update!

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