Elegant Personality for Your Walls
By Kathy Wilson
The Budget Decorator
Adding style and charm to an area as large as your walls isn’t always as easy as it sounds! There are so many options in painting, papering, faux finishes and paint treatments it can be hard to know what might be a good choice for your family. Right now a really hot technique is adding quotes, words or sayings to your walls that might be meaningful for those who live there, and it is very easy and inexpensive to do!
Adding meaningful words to your walls is inspirational, unique, and easy! You can do it yourself (which I am about to show you!) or you can order your words from online sources such as WallWords.com. (Tip: Online quote sources are a great place to get ideas for quotes and sayings as well.)
I like to place my quotes or sayings over a doorway or mantel, along a wallborder, or I use single words centered on doors or small, awkward wall sections. As soon as you have chosen your quotes or sayings, you are ready to get started!
Open a word processing program on your computer such as Word, and type in your saying. Experiment with starting each word with a capital, or all words lower case to see which looks best for your room. Now change and experiment with the fonts on your computer. If you highlight the entire passage first, every time you choose a new font, you will be able to preview how it looks. Keep in mind elaborate script looks better in a more formal or romantic setting. Choose a style that fits you and your room. Make sure you choose the font size to represent the size you would like on your walls. When you have chosen your font and size, print out the passage. Using a pair of scissors, cut apart each section of the quote as it will be painted onto the wall.
I like to use paint pens to draw the quotes onto the wall, but thick tipped permanent markers work as well, they come in many colors. Using scotch tape, tape the quote to the wall just above the area you will be drawing. Now use the computer printout as a guide, copy the words onto the wall with the paint pen. A strip of masking tape placed on the wall below the words will help keep you in a straight line. If you are not comfortable copying the letters, or if you have chosen a difficult font, place a piece of carbon behind the printout, and trace over the letters with a pen or pencil, leaving a pattern directly over the wall instead. Now go over the tracing with your paint pen.
This technique brings daily joy and inspiration to those who frequent your home, and is a meaningful way to express yourself in just an afternoon! Feel free to borrow a couple of my favorite quotes or words below, or try these sites for inspiration…
www.wallwords.com
http://www.quotationspage.com/
http://www.heartsandminds.org/quotes/quotes.htm
Or borrow some of my favorites…
“I Can Do All Things…” –Philippians 4:13
“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path, and leave a trail.” –Emerson
Live, Love, Laugh
Believe
Dream
Find your own, and give your loved ones a gift of inspiration every time they walk in a room!
