Thursday, February 28, 2013

Welcome Home! Silk Screening an Accent Wall

A good friend of mine recently came over to my house.  She hadn't been over in quite some time--she has an 8 month old and travels incessantly for work (which are all good excuses in my book).  My house looked quite different since the last time she had come over.  I had been busy remodeling rooms, painting walls, reupholstering furniture, and doing fun, creative things to my space.  Upon entering my bedroom, she gasped and squealed, "This is amazing!".  She was referring to my accent wall which I bravely painted a metallic silver and hand-printed it with a silhouetted, floral pattern.  In her defense, it is quite stunning.
So when her and her husband bought their first home together, commissioning me to silk screen their bedroom wall was the first project on her list.  Once my friend selected the print she thought would work best in their space, I enlarged the image and created two new screens--a small screen with a delicate print, and a larger screen for a bolder pattern.  The two would be printed together, giving the wall a real sense of depth and dimension.
To save time, they painted the accent wall a light shade of mocha prior to me coming over.  Once I arrived, I got to work immediately!  I began the project by measuring the wall and placing tape in the places that I would print the largest screen.  I started at the bottom of the wall and worked my way from left to right.  I printed about five images on the bottom of the wall, washed my screen out, let the ink on the wall dry, and then repeated this, working my way up the wall until the wall was filled with floral prints.  I took a paintbrush and filled in the areas where I wanted the branches to connect.  I let that dry.  Then, I printed the smaller screen with the more delicate branches, filling in the all the negative space.  Once that dried, I repeated with the freehand painting.
All in all, it was an ambitious but manageable project I tackled in a day.  I was really pleased with the outcome and how the different sized screens translated on a larger surface.  More importantly, my friend and her husband were overjoyed.  I truly hope they enjoy their original Saintsing accent wall for years and years to come.  Welcome home!                                                                  

My Friend's New Bedroom Wall
My Bedroom Accent Wall--The Inspiration