PIY Pointers: Painting Stripes

Hello all!  Welcome to Paint-it-Yourself Pointers.  Since you all seemed to love the Beach Stripes Coffee Table, I thought I would share my process on painting stripes.  All you need is a little patience and I promise you can completely transform the look of your piece!

You'll need:
-a primed and painted piece of furniture
-painter's tape
-2 colours of paint
-paint brush or roller (I preferred the precision of the brush for this project)

1.  Before you even begin, make sure you buy the good tape.  I usually skimp on the green stuff but because the stripes will be up close and personal you really want them to look good.  So the extra $2 is very worth it.

2.  You should have your piece of furniture primed and painted with a couple of coats of your base colour.  I would give it an overnight drying because you'll be taping on fresh paint.

3. Apply your painter's tape based on where you want your stripes to be (be sure to leave a little overhang for easy removal).  I wasn't too picky based on the look I was going for, so didn't bother measuring but you can if you'd like.  Make sure to press the tape down well to avoid paint bleeding inside the edges.  Trust me, the tape will remove easily.

3.  Complete this process wherever you want your stripes to show through.  Now, here is the most important step in the process.  Once all your tape is ready, apply another coat of your base colour of paint (not your darker stripe colour).  Allow this to dry and it will prevent the darker paint from any bleeding. 

4. Once your striped base coat is dry, prepare your second paint colour for the stripes.  I chose a slightly darker colour in the same tone, for a complimentary effect.  The sky is really the limit here if you want to do contrasting colours, a soft tonal look...you be creative!  Apply 2-3 coats of your stripe colour, allowing a couple of hours of drying time between coats.

5.  Now you can peel off your painter's tape and admire your stripes.  The piece is ready to be sealed with finish.  I also chose to do some light distressing before I added the finish, to go with the relaxed beachy vibe I wanted.  Here's the finished product!

Enjoy diving into the world of stripes and have a lovely day friends!