This wall 

Right here

Plain and boring 

It’s the wall you see as soon as you enter the front door

I wanted it to make a statement. 

I wanted shiplap.

You know, the Joanna Gaines famous shiplap? Yep….that shiplap. 

I was even ok with faux shiplap that was cheaper and you spaced it with nickels. Confused yet? 

Well shiplap would cost more than I wanted to spend and currently the carport has taken over my bank account, all of our time and most of our energy. 

Plan B.

Almost free and something I can do alone 

My google search included :

Front entry accent wall 

Stenciled wall

Gray/blue accent wall

What stencil would look good on a front entry accent wall

You get the idea 

So I headed to Michaels one day and just happened upon the perfect pattern. $9.99 are you kidding me? Plus I had a coupon. Woohoo!!!

There was paint in my stash.  I just mixed  me up a little concoction of the perfect color. 

Get to work!

Looking pretty good. My ever constant companion was a super helper. Yeah right. 

Not bad 

This is pretty fun

I finished up both sides.

Then there was the top.

Good grief people, I climbed to the top of this 40′ ladder, taped the stencil on hanging halfway upside down and proceeded to paint the stencil while having little to hold onto. 40′ is the only thing I’m exaggerating on. 

I finished. 

I was not happy.

Every little pattern had flaws.

What in the world was I going to do?

I would fix it. 

Every pattern I would have to retouch, repaint, fix.

There were hundreds. 

This is where I cried. 

I was having company in 3 days and one of those days I was junkin with my girls. Priorities. Right? 

How would I ever finish? 

What do I do best? 

I make new things look old. I take the ugly and make it pretty.

So instead of perfectly shaped stencils…..

I grabbed my sanding block and I sanded both walls. It created this beautiful old looking, vintage pattern.

Some of the paint was removed.

The lines were not perfect and I began to love what it was becoming. 

I swiped a little paint here. 

I swiped a little paint there. 

I had paint all over my fingers from rubbing and smearing.

Our house is 114 years old.

Why would I want it to look new anyways? 

I finished just in time for company. 

Is it perfect? No, but neither am I.

Have a blessed week!

Charma