Tips for Using a Bathroom Wall Stencil | Dramatic Bathroom Upgrade

Tip 1: Pick a Stencil You Will love for a Long Time

Etsy is a great place to search for fun stencils for any room. Check my materials listed below for the stencil I chose.

Tip 2: Consider Using Repositionable Spray Adhesive to Secure your Stencil to the Wall

As you can see in the above picture, I used Frog Tape only to adhere my stencil to the wall. The only issue with this was that my stencil was a little flimsy and moved on me when I didn't have it flat to the wall, such as when it was resting up against a corner or didn't have room to go all the way down. Had I used the repositionable spray adhesive, I feel like I would have had less slips to fix. 

Tip 3: Make Sure the Stencil is Level... Especially the First One for Each Wall

I used my laser level to make sure the pattern was straight for both the first one of each wall, my top left corner, as well as the one underneath that. It best to work from up to down and then left to right or right to left depending on your wall. If the first one is not level for either the top or bottom one, the rest will gradually start to show the slope. 

Tip 4: Tape the Ceiling

Tip 5: Line Up the Stencil Perfectly with the One Before it

As you can see in the picture above on the left side, I did not align the stencil perfectly. This didn't cause me much issue as far the entire stencil rectangle, but obviously you can see the spots where it is thicker and darker.

Now, I didn't have to redo the whole stencil, but I did have to go in with the background paint color as well as the green color and fix these marks (see tip 7 for more detail).

Tip 6: Try to Use the Same Pressure on the Roller as you Move from Spot to Spot

Before moving your stencil to the next box, be sure to step back and make sure the paint coverage is even.

Tip 7: Extend the Stencil to the Edges Using a Cut Piece of the Stencil and a Small Brush

You'll notice in all the previous pictures that the stencil didn't meet the crease of the wall. After cutting the smaller version of the pattern out of your original stencil, align it near the corners and bend it a little to extend the pattern closer to the corner.

I didn't need it to be perfect, but I was aiming for a light map of the extended pattern to go back over with my smaller paint brush. I used my foam roller with very minimal paint on it to roller horizontally towards the corner of the wall. 

This took about an hour, but it definitely got the job done in a way that you cannot really tell that it was hand painted.

Tip 8: Don't Connect the Stencil in the Crease of the Wall

Tip 9: Take Your Time - Don't Rush

What do you think?