*READ THROUGH TO FIND OUT HOW YOU COULD WIN $50 TO THE CUTTING EDGE STENICLS!!*

The very first bigger company I got a “yes” from was The Cutting Edge Stencils. I was SO EXCITED I just couldn’t wait to transform the laundry room. Although it took me a couple months to get the room ready to do the floor, it was the big thing that got me going in this room. 

As I got closer to preparing for the floor I started to feel really anxious about it. I watched videos and read about stencilling, but I was worried that I wouldn’t be happy with the results. Why? Well, if you haven’t figured this out yet, I can be a *little* particular about certain things… I was worried that there would be too much bleeding from the stencil and I wouldn’t be happy with how it turned out. 

The night before I was about to start I decided to practice on a piece of poster board. I tried one full stencil with a foam roller and one with the stencil brush. I had heard that the brush takes longer but typically yields a little more precise results. What I found on the poster board was the opposite; the foam roller was the winner by far. I loved the outcome and gained enough confidence to sleep through the night and feel ready to take on my floor in the morning. 

I got down on all fours, was so pumped to start stencilling and bam – epic fail! I quickly wiped it all off with a wet rag, sat on the floor, texted a friend and stared at it.

Before long I tried again. It still wasn’t awesome. I decided to try hand painting over it and I loved the look of that. I didn’t know what to do so I just kept going with the stencil and decided, heck, I’m just going to paint over it all, I can do this I thought. To my surprise each one got a little easier (with just he foam roller and stenciling). Soon I realized I was applying way too much paint at first.

I put more paint on because I wanted a darker black, but you can’t do it like that. If you want a darker colour you need to apply multiple, very thin coats. Once I got the method down (having very little paint on the roller), I decided to try going over it again a second time with the stencil. I only did this once and again, it didn’t yield the results I was going for, so I decided to stick with hand painting them all after stencilling. You can see in this photo, the one on the right is hand painted in and the one on the left is not touched up at all. Honestly, I think both look great!

Here’s the thing. I was after a look that was different then what I should have planned for. Once  I got the hang of stencilling I really liked the look of the lighter paint, however at that point I had already started hand painting them in darker so I felt like I needed to continue with that for a uniform look.

I’ve had several people ask if painting was really necessarily. NO, definitely not. It was a choice I made to get to the look I had pictured in my head. Would I do it again like that? Most likely no. Next time (and yes, I do plan to stencil again), I would plan for a lighter paint finish.

But ask me if you think it was worth it… I DO! I didn’t have a lot of budget friendly options for this floor; part concrete and part vinyl tile. I was able to paint over it ALL and make it look like it all was meant to be and I am SO HAPPY with it! I mean, check out this before and after?! WOW!

So yes, I did collaborate with Cutting Edge, but I have shared my honest experience with stencilling! If you’d like more details you can watch the video below, check my Instagram highlights or leave your questions in the comments!
Did you know you can save this to your Pinterest board? Just hover over the top left corner of each photo and click on the Pinterest Icon! 

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I’ve linked the paint that I used below. Click HERE for the 12×12 Star Tile, brushes and foam roller. 

 

Click HERE for more of my Amazon Favourites!

Now for the really fun part…

I’ve collaborated with Cutting Edge Stencils to give one lucky random winner $50 to shop your favourite stencil!

 

To enter: comment on this blog post what stencil you love! Click HERE to see all the options! 

*Open to Canada + USA residents 18 years + and closes Tuesday July 13th, 2021 at 10am PST*

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