2.13.2013

a recurrence of herringboner

when i considered what to do on the walls in the NEW! office, my first thought was a stencil of some sort. i have a few girlfriends who have captured the hearts of the internet with their seriously amazing stencil-anchored room makeovers (birch trees! moroccan tiles!) so i was sniffing around the wall stencil websites for a promising scent.

i knew i wanted something graphic and linear and modern. now, i love a good chevron and am so glad that the chev-rage is still pretty de rigueur. but you know that really tense feeling you get when a game of bingo or jenga has gone on with no winner for way longer than it should and, eeeeeeeeeeeeeee! certainly someone is going to yell BINGO! or the tower is going to fall at any moment, and your butt is just so clenched and every nerve ending is frayed from the electricity? yeah well that where i am on chevrons (also: this is why i'm not super fun to play games or see suspense movies with...tightly wound, anyone?). i feel like at any moment chevrons are going to be played out, so as much as i love them, i am not cementing them in to my 5-year plan. my wall plan, as it were.

you may have been scarred for life by remember my erotic love note to our new couch. that beautiful beast was the first herringbone specimen in our house. i love how subtle it is, but that the pattern itself is graphic and unique, but timeless and chic.

so when i saw that stencil i was purring like a smitten kitten and knew that i must have the bone. but then my impulsive frugal wheels started turning and i thought, it's just straight lines, do i really need a $40 stencil (plus shipping and the clip on level) to make this happen? also, if i just do the design myself, i can STARTRIGHTNOW!

jesse does not love this feature of my personality.

but he had been gone all week at a conference while i was home with the kids and so he knew better than to say no and set off the inner meth-addict that i become when i've been single parenting/working/stressing for a few days.

so with the kids packed off to the grandmas (back to back days!) i got down and dirty.

i tried to map it out in the most geometrically pleasing way so that i could conserve tape, time, and effort. this started with sharpies, graph paper and highlighters and ended with me saying, "screw this. i'm just gonna start drawing on the walls."

i'm going to do a tutorial on how i got the pattern on the wall and full blown after pics  i have a few more columns to finish up the whole she-bang), but here is a little sneak peek that i put on instagram:


it's so pretty and i love it forever (or approx 2-3 years). 

herringboners unite!

have yall ever done (or wanted to do) a stencil or a fun design on your walls?

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i started running my sidebar ads through adproval; so easy and user friendly compared to trying to keep up with that stuff myself.  so if youre interested in advertising your business, blog, etsy shop or website at Put Up Your Dukes, just click here to get started. prices start at $0.




3 comments:

  1. Holy wow, the finished bit is pure awesome! I can't wait to see the tutorial (and then pin it, and save it for a bajillionty years because I live in an apartment for the foreseeable future) because there is no way I could make lines that straight, and of course if they were even just a tiny bit crooked, I would cry every day when I looked at them. Herringbone is the new chevron!

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  2. Love it!! Can't wait to see it loud and proud! Thanks for the shout-out on the birch trees. I myself considered chevron, but I'm with you: it won't last. I let myself get a large chevron area rug, but it was a minor investment that I don't plan on lasting forever. But walls? Shoooot, girl, who wants to stencil/paint any sooner than necessary? Good judgment call, lady.

    This is unrelated, but your "I now advertise this way" note says that ads start at $0. Is this true? Or a typo? I would like to advertise my awesomeness. Just an ad that says "Christine is Awesome." Nothing fancy. Thank you.

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    Replies
    1. for real! there is an ad swaption available. i feel like i kind of already did advertise your birchy awesome for free though...so youre going to owe me another $0 for the additional tout.

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