Home Office: Wallpaper Look on a Budget

My husband and I each have home offices that can use a little more TLC. I painted mine Metropolitan by Benjamin Moore last summer, but hadn’t gotten around to decorating most of the walls. My initial plan was to do an accent wall that complemented the gray, but I quickly realized how expensive wallpaper can be! So I put off the project and explored other options, like board and batten, shiplap, or just getting creative with more paint.

In the end, I decided to create a wallpaper look by stenciling. I purchased a fern leaf stencil from Etsy. I wanted to use the leftover Truly Olive by Behr from a previous project for the leaves, and paint the background either white or a soft pink.

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I chose the pink to bring warmth into an otherwise cold, north-facing room. Plus, this is the only room in the house where I would be comfortable using pink, so it had to be incorporated somewhere. After what seemed like hours at a local paint store, I went with Ella Rose by Magnolia in the matte finish.

Before we move on, I want to talk about paint sizes for a minute. I’ve been told multiple times in the past that 1 quart of paint is just enough for a front and back of a door. I believed them until I tried it for myself. After 2+ coats on both sides of my front door, I had over 3/4 of the can left. I later used the same paint on my rocking chair and still have 1/2 of the can left. The moral of the story: a quart of paint gets you far. For reference, 1 gallon was just enough for 2 coats on all four walls of my office, which has two windows and two doors. So I thought it would be perfectly fine to get 1 quart this time around for the accent wall. I was nervous in the beginning because paint cans are deceptively small, but I was able to finish the 2 coats with a bit of paint left over.

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Now onto stenciling! I started by cutting out similar sized leaves and planning out the pattern on the wall. I tried to get a good mix of left and right pointing tops and various degrees of slanting for an imperfect look.

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I used painter’s tape to keep the stencil steady and a pouncer to apply the paint. Below was my first attempt and the middle section turned out a little heavier than I would’ve liked. I found that it’s better to err on the side of too little paint until you figure out the optimal amount to work with. Luckily, this variation wasn’t too noticeable and I left it as is.

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Overall, it was an easy, satisfying process and I would definitely do another stenciling project in the future. The bathroom would be a good candidate since I’m wary about wallpapers holding up in a humid environment. I’m also glad that I chose the pink color – it’s an immediate mood booster!