Teddy's Argyle Room

After being completed for nearly a year, I am finally getting around to blogging Teddy's nursery. His bedding is Pottery Barn Kids Monkeys and I thought long and hard about what painting treatment for the walls would work to compliment the decor . I thought about polka dots or stripes or just painting the walls blue and being done with it. In the end, I decided to go with a funky argyle!

I was inspired by this scrapbook paper by We R Memory Keepers. I believe the line is is called White Out and this paper specifically might be Explore Argyle. I had already used this line of paper to make a magnet board for Teddy's room and I had already done a harlequin diamond room for my daughter a couple of years back. So, I thought 'what the heak' and decided to give it a go.

First, with my awesome sister-in-law Shannon's invaluable assistance, we painted the entire room blue. Had I thought it through more, I would not have painted the argyle wall blue, cause almost all of it got covered in a different color! To make a diamond wall you will need: measuring tape, level, straight edge, and a lot of painter's tape. I started by deciding the size of my diamond. These are 14" wide and 28" tall. I eyeballed where I wanted my center row and marked out every 14" using a level. Then 14" above those marks, I marked out every 14", but in the middle of the last marks, and then I did that below the first set as well. To keep from getting confused and to make sure I was near the mark, I had a diamond template made from a sheet of packing paper. I just kind of stuck it on the wall every now and then to make sure I wasn't deviating from the plan. Since two points determine a line (Yes!! When your kids ask 'When will I ever need to know this stuff I'm learning in math and geometry,' you can tell them about this project), once I had a few of the markings up, we started drawing lines with a straight edge. This way, you don't have to measure out the WHOLE wall. It can get a little tough at the edges since you won't have the space to make all the measurements. Luckily we had my brother-in-law Adam with us who is a mathlete. He was able to figure out a system involving making sure the angles of the little top and bottom diamonds were correct. Even if you don't have a mathlete around, with a little patience and perseverance you should be able to do it!

Next you will need a lot of painter's tape and a steady hand. We started by taping off the brown diamond. You have to do this in two or three stages, because you can't paint diamonds that are touching each other at the same time. So you will tape the first, third, fifth, and so on, and paint them. Wait for them to dry, paint the second coat, repeat until they are coated as you like, then take the tape off and tape off the second, fourth, and sixth diamond. When all the browns were done we went to oranges and so on. From the scrapbook paper I chose a section that was as many diamonds across and high as I had in my room. I cut it out and used it for reference in placing my colors.

After we had all of the diamonds painted, it was time to paint the argyle cross hatching. I wanted to stay true to the funky scrapbook paper which had the lines going from skinny to thick and crossing anywhere in the diamond, not necessarily the middle. We thought and thought about the best way to go about it and finally with a little sadness in our hearts decided that more painters tape was the best option.

We simply applied one piece of tape keeping the same angle as the diamonds and then put up another really close to the first one. But with the second piece of tape we placed it closer in some sections and further away in others. You do all of the lines in one direction first, making sure to coat it as many times as necessary before removing the tape. Make sure it is good and dry, and then repeat the process in the opposite direction.

You may notice that some of the tape looks like it has paint where it shouldn't be. I think we went through about 7 rolls of tape and ran out in the middle of the night. So we reused some of the tape from the first set of lines to do the second set of lines. It worked, but I don't think it is a step I would have taken if it wasn't necessary.

And here it is finished. I took us about 40 woman hours to complete. Whew!! A couple tips: for all of the colors except the light blue, I used acrylic craft paint...but I wouldn't do that again! I didn't realize that Lowe's paint samples come in satin finish, which is the finish of the light blue paint. I would suggest using that. It would have covered better and been the same price and had the finish that I wanted. If you want a flat finish, Home Depot's sample paint comes in flat. To do the lines, the thin painters tape works best. We also had a couple of fans blowing in the room to speed up the drying time. Also, do not attempt this project if you do not have patience. If you are the type that wants to start and finish a project in one day, this isn't for you! Because of a mistake with the orange paint color (it was too red, so we had to retape and paint all of the orange diamonds again) ... where the white cross hatch meets in the middle of the orange diamonds, there is 17 coats of paint!! So, this project really demands patience. And lastly, having an assistant to work with you is mandatory. It is so helpful to have another pair of hands, another brain to bounce ideas off of, and a great girl friend to chat with to help pass the time. Thanks Shannon, you are the best!!

Ahh...and the completed room. There is Teddy's name on the wall. I got the paper mache letters from JoAnn's and modge podged the coordinating paper on.


This is Teddy's monkey collection and my Where The Wild Things Are figures by McFarlane that my husband bought for me for my birthday one year.

And this is the message board that started the whole thing. This paper was perfect for the colors of the bedding I had chosen. I just love orange for boys! The monkey faces are vinyl rub ons. And you can kind of see Teddy's invitation for his first birthday party. It was a monkey theme, of course!

The monkey rug was from Target.

On the wall between the argyle and the curtain, you can kind of see a frame that I made with the same paper and modge podge.

I simply love the way Teddy's room turned out! I love it so much I never want to change it...and to paint over that argyle would be criminal. So now I am on the look out for twin bedding that would match his wall and so far I have had no luck. I have about one more year before he will be growing out of his crib...so we'll see what happens.

Sharing my argyle love with: the CSI Project. This week is hardware store...and most of the supplies for my argyle wall were purchased at Home Depot. My main paint is Bahr and the supply that made it all possible...Blue Painters Tape!!