How to Stencil Textured Walls

Today, we’re partnering with our sponsor, Stencil Revolution, to show you how to stencil textured walls for Week 4 of the One Room Challenge!

As always, a special thank you to Linda, creator of the One Room Challenge and media partners Better Homes and Gardens and the Home Love Network for sponsoring the 2018 Fall One Room Challenge.

Of all the projects we’ve been working on for the One Room Challenge, partnering with Stencil Revolution to stencil our pantry walls with their French Bee Trellis Stencil was one of the projects I was most excited about and super nervous about too. While I have plenty of experience stenciling floors, curtains, and pillows I had zero experience stenciling walls until a few weeks ago.

I don’t know if you guys have textured walls or not, but boy can they be tough to decorate around sometimes. I see all these beautiful wallpapers and starched fabrics that would be gorgeous on our walls. But our walls have an “orange peel texture,” which pretty much limits our wall treatment options to paint, moldings, some type of wainscoting or planking.

Our walk-in pantry is the perfect place to try out a wall stencil because it’s basically a 4x6x9 jewel box just inside the kitchen. Honestly, I had no idea how this project would turn out but it’s such a small area there was really nothing to lose in trying, you know what I mean?

Thankfully, the French Bee Stencil looks fabulous and we learned so much about how to stencil textured walls along the way. I’m sharing our experience with you in the hopes it will help save you time and frustration if you ever decide to do something like this at your house.

Here’s a look at how to stencil a textured wall…

How to Stencil a Textured Wall Supplies:

• Stencil Revolution French Bee Trellis Stencil
• Paint (We used Valspar’s Cathedral Stone for the stencil paint color)
• Stencil Brush
• Paint Tray
• Lint free cloth or towel (to brush off excess paint)
• Tape (specially made for textured walls – we used Frog Tape – this is huge)
• Tarp to protect your floor and surfaces
• Level/Ruler/Measuring Tape
• Pencil

How to Stencil a Textured Wall Steps:

Step #1: Prep and Paint Surfaces Prior to Stenciling – Before you start stenciling make sure your walls have been appropriately prepped and are free from any dirt or debris. Tape off trim and molding.

Lay down a tarp to protect the floors and other surfaces from any paint overspray.

If you decide to paint your textured walls make sure you’ve allowed enough time for the paint to properly cure. We painted our walls using Valspar’s Bistro White.

Step #2: Unroll Your Stencil and Make Sure the Stencil Cutouts are in Tact – Wall and floor stencils can be packaged many ways so make your stencil is completely in tact prior to using it.

If you’ve never used a stencil before, you should consider practicing with your stencil first.

Step #3: Measure the Middle of the Wall You Want to Start On – Use a measuring tape, level or ruler to measure and mark the middle of the wall you want to start on. We started on the wall opposite the window at the very top of the wall in case there were any mistakes and thank goodness we did. You’ll read more about that in next step.

Step #4: Secure the Stencil to the Wall with Tape – Make sure you’re using the right size stencil for your specific project. Also, make sure you’re using a tape that is specially formulated for painted textured walls. I thought all tape was the same but let me tell ya, it is not.

There is nothing more frustrating than stopping for less than a minute to check on your dog only to have your entire wall stencil slide off the wall before the paint is dry and smudging nearly every.single.image. you’ve just painted.

We had to completely repaint and stencil the whole section again. Gah, SO frustrating! We switched to using Frog Tape immediately. You will likely go through more tape than you expect if you have a large area to stencil given the amount of repositioning you’ll have to do, just a heads up.

Step #5 & #6: Lightly Dip Your Stencil Brush into the Paint then Brush Off the Excess Paint on a Lint-Free Cloth – I mistakenly thought I would be able to roll the paint onto the stencil for the textured walls. I could not have been more wrong. Rolling, even with a special nap roller, left the stencil transfer a hot mess. Save yourself some time and a lot of frustration by using a stencil brush. Yes, it will take longer but the quality will be better.

Lightly dip your stencil brush into your paint (we used Valspar’s Cathedral Stone),

then brush off any excess paint on a lint-free cloth. You actually need very little paint on your brush to stencil. Any excess paint will cause major bleed through on textured walls so keep that in mind.

Step #7: Carefully Fill in the Stencil Form – When your filling in the stencil form with paint, use a circular motion to transfer the stencil image properly.

If you’re experiencing bleed through or smudging, you likely have too much paint on your brush.

Another reason smudging might happen is when you have paint caked on the back of your stencil. If you’re not able to quickly wipe the paint off, you probably need to stop and clean your stencil.

Step #8: Allow Proper Drying Time Before Carefully Removing the Wall Stencil – In my experience the drying time was fairly quick because I didn’t have a lot of paint on the brush. That being said, if your paint has not properly dried, you will smudge the transferred imagine.

Step #9: Realignment is Key – The pattern on the French Bee Trellis stencil was really easy to reposition and realign which was a blessing given our 9-foot ceilings. You can see here how we were able to use the pattern to help us realign.

Be very careful when you reposition the stencil as it will smudge if the paint has not properly dried. In addition, your pattern will be also be off completely if you haven’t repositioned your stencil accurately.

This is especially true when you’re working around the corners or working around objects like these clips that hold in the pantry shelves. They were a beast to work around!

Step #10: Use a Detail Brush to Fix Any Mistakes – Let face it, stencil mistakes are going to happen especially on textured walls. Using a fine art detail brush can help you fix small mistakes fairly quickly.

Step #11: Don’t Forget to Clean Your Stencil – You’ll likely have to stop a few times to clean your stencil depending on how big of an area you’re working on. Taking good care of your stencil will help to set you up for success when you’re ready to use it again on another project!

As I mentioned before, this is not my first time stenciling a big area, so I thought stenciling our textured walls would take maybe a few hours or at most a day. It actually took almost 2 whole days given I had to hand stencil it all, work around all the shelf clips and fix a few mistakes too.

My best piece of advice other than getting a good quality stencil and stencil brush is to practice before you start and to take your time. It’s not going to be an easy process but it’s going to be worth it in the end to have a finish that you’re excited about.

Believe it or not, I still have some work to do in the pantry to get everything organized again.

It’s been fun to see how things are shaping up in the meantime though.

Thank you again to Stencil Revolution for sponsoring this post and for making our pantry makeover possible. Stencil Revolution is a family owned small business in Florida which, as you guys know, is near and dear to our hearts. They have a wide range of stencils including seasonal stencils in many different shapes and sizes. These stencils are also very affordable, so, be sure to check Stencil Revolution out.

As always, all opinions and experiences are my own. You can read our full disclosure policy here.

Let us know what your experience has been stenciling textured walls, floors or other special projects you’re excited about. We’d love to pass along any advice you might have too! Until next time, I’ll see you on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest.

Many blessings,

CoCo