DIY Faux "wall paper" stripes tutorial

Alright, I mentioned in my last post I would put up a tutorial on how to do "faux wall paper stripes" with colored butcher paper. Honestly, it was easy! I even did it while the hubby was sleeping (in the same room!) I have been searching for a budget friendly way to fake paint my walls for quite some time now. I looked into renters wallpaper, fabric with the temporary glue made of cornstarch, I looked into buying vinyl. I thought, and thought and thought...and nothing I researched was worth my effort (since I don't know how long we'll live here) or fit within my budget that my husband wouldn't have a COW when he found out how much I spent doing such a project!

I finally came up with the idea of using colored butcher paper because my husband is a teacher. He came home once upon a time with a big wad of paper, and asked me if I would make a poster for his classroom, and a light bulb went off in my head!

Looking back on this project, I wish I would have chosen to do 9 inch stripes rather than 5 inch, but I wanted to get as many stripes out of my paper as I possibly could (because I am cheap resourceful like that). But either way, I still love it over my bare walls!

So here it is! The tutorial to do it yourself.

1.  Find a location in your area that sells colored butcher paper. I found one in Orem (because the there isn't one where I live) that sold it for $0.35 a foot.

2. Measure your wall so you know how many feet you need to buy. And also decide how wide you want your stripes. A normal paper is 36 inches long. So you'll need however many papers divided by the width you want, that will fit on each, until you have enough to cover the entire distance of your wall.

ex. my wall was 8 feet wide, by 12 feet tall. I did 5 inch stripes and put a stripe every 10 inches. I was able to get 6 stripes out of one paper width.  I needed 2 papers, and had some left over.

3. Using chalk (literally my daughters play chalk) I measured my 5 inches per stripe, as well as length 8 ft, plus one inch (it's better to be too long than too short right?) all the way up and across my paper to use as a cutting guide. I used white chalk since nothing else would show up and that was my back side once it was hung up.

Measuring Stripes and making guides to help with cutting

4. Cut your stripes. I couldn't find any scissors, so I used my rolling fabric cutter (which is probably why my lines were so loopy, besides the fact that I can't cut a straight line if my life depended on it! Although it was probably easier, it would be more sturdier using scissors...imo.

5. Next, I went into my room, where my husband was sleeping in our bed, and measured my wall and made a notch every 5 inches with the chalk because it would come clean so easily afterwards.

Sweet Dreams dear Hubby!

6. Using my notches as a guide, a level, and push pins, I hung up my stripes one by one. On one of them I had to cut around a plug plate. I cut around the plate (going in less than 1/4 of an inch further than needed so the plate would lay in front the paper ever so slightly). *3M also makes poster paper hanging tape that doesn't leave any residue or take the paint off that you could buy, cut up into smaller pieces, and hang that way. I chose pins, but my thumbs were SUPER sore by the time I was done!

*This was before I cut the paper around the outlet.

6. I did buy some of that tape mentioned above for a few of the "middles" of my stripes. Some were looser than others and it was really bothering me, so I used that to make it smoother on the wall.

7. The BEST PART...Hang your decor on top!

Ran out of paper and pins, so Here it is "finished" until Monday (I was doing this project over Mother's Day weekend) and I can go buy more!

Room Make Over-in a weekend! YAY!

Okay, so I don't know about you, but my bedroom in ALL the places we have ever lived, has been a last priority in being decorated, and often times used as a "shove everything in boxes and stack them up in the corner" room. I HATE THAT! 

I finally decided on a color scheme, and told myself I was going to do SOMETHING...It had been 4 years, this has gone on LONG enough! So I told my hubby that I wanted a clean bedroom for Mother's Day, and used birthday money for some supplies (lucky for me they are right by each other), and have been slowly collecting items (living within my monthly "crafting budget") and was able to make it happen! I am so excited!! I have never been so happy to open my eyes in the morning! Here are some of the things I did in my Room Make Over *still have  things to finish, like curtains, and repaint our dressers, but that will come with time).

I am so excited to show you my "new look" in our bedroom! I can't wait to get more things finished over time! 

This is my "striped wall" I made with colored butcher paper and pins. I currently rent, and we're not allowed to paint, but the bare walls were KILLING me, so I had to do something! I know fabric with the temporary glue with cornstarch would have been an ideal option, but it was too expensive for my budget! I ran out of paper and pins, so the wall isn't finished yet, but it will be soon! Look for a tutorial coming soon!

Dandelion Art picture I painted myself, I am pretty happy with how it turned out, especially since I am not the most artistic of people! My hubby loved it because it was yellow, I loved it because it gave the wall a little "pop". Tutorial on how I did this coming soon too!

Sorry this picture is blurry! Of some of the things to come...this is one of them. I am going to pain the picture frame and the & sign white so they stand out a little more, and blend in with the color scheme. I got my A and C from Joann's and modge podged paper on top. Used shoe polish (my favorite thing to distress with) to distress the edges! 

Rocking chair with yellow pillow....next!

My favorite thing I have done thus far!! I mentioned my birthday was recently, so these are the supplies I got to make pillows to go on my bed! Super easy, and with the great sales Joann's is having currently, I got for a major deal! 

This is "His" side of the bed. Again, one day our dressers will be painted! My hubby has all this "junk" he unloads out of his pockets every day and it drives me INSANE! So to solve the problem, we compromised with a "junk box" where he can put his wallet, badge, phone, keys, ect. and I can see nothing but pretty decorations! 

And this is "Hers" I need to paint my picture frame white (not blaring red) so that it'll match! But I am in love with how everything turned out!