Guest Post: DIY Interior Painting Design Techniques

I am so excited my friend, Joy from Three Calhouns, agreed to guest post. I've only known Joy for about 6 months via our MOPS group... but we have found that we have a lot in common and really enjoy hanging out. It doesn't hurt that she has a sweet little girl about the same age as mine. :)  She is an interior designer in the DFW area, but is currently choosing the SAHM path of life, and what a great mom she is! Once I saw her little girl's room a couple months ago, I wanted to go buy some paint & start painting!! Not only does she do Interior Design, she's into Photography, and like I said- one of the best mamas around. I know you'll enjoy her post today! Make sure to leave her a comment and go visit her blog, too.

Hi! Today I am doing a guest post for my sweet friend Sarah! I am Joy from the Three Calhouns.
I am a lover of all things creative and that includes painting, whether it be on a wall or a canvas. When my sweet girl was born we had her room all ready for her. It was pink and brown and the walls were brown. After nine months of staring at the same 4 walls for many many hours, I decided to move her to a different room in our house and paint the walls pink. I loved it! However after staring at these same walls for a few months, I knew I wanted to paint something on one wall.

I had the perfect idea! I was going to buy a fleur de lis stencil and it was going to be fabulous. Well, I found the stencil and it cost $60 plus $14 for shipping. NO THANKS! So, I did the next best thing. I decided to go the easy way and do polka dots and just use a serving platter I already had. You then have to decide whether you want the dots to be random, or in a pattern. I wanted a pattern and the measuring was definitely the "hardest" part of the project. Either that or the 14 month old at my heels the entire time. Also, instead of using a pencil to trace around the edges I used a brown paint pen.

I have textured walls, so I knew it was going to be hard to get a straight line and the paint pen worked perfectly!

After I had them all drawn on the wall with the paint pen I just filled it in with my brown paint using a small 4" roller. I LOVE the way it turned out! What do you think?

Another room I did was at my brother and sister in law's house. She emailed me a picture and told me she wanted me to copy the image and paint it in her bathroom. This required much more time because there was nothing to trace, no stencil, just free hand. She also has textured walls, so getting a straight line required a good, expensive, 1-1/2" thick painters brush. I painted all the swirls dark brown, then came back with a lighter shade and highlighted a few areas to give it more depth.

This took a lot longer than the dots, but my sister in law loves it and that is what matters! I am sure there will be many more painting projects in my future, but I would like to take a little break!

Thank you so much Joy! I love it. Now I can't wait to get in our own home, and start painting. I hope this gives y'all some good ideas on painting & how much easier it can be to get that couture paint look.

Tomorrow, I have a friend sharing a craft post! You don't want to miss it! So make sure to check back in for a creative idea.