It's not first time I have stenciled a wall in this house. The last one was larger. It's kind of like giving birth. Once you hold that baby in your arms (or in this case drool over your new feature wall) you totally forget about all the pain. What I'm saying is that yes, this is tedious... but it is SO worth it. My This wall took just over 12 hours of work. The wall is located in a dark back hallway of our home and it makes such a huge difference.Here's how I stenciled this wall in our house:

What you'll need:

Your stencil. I used the Mandala Fusions stencil from Royal Stencils. I do also design stencils for them. There are a few of my own which I've used before as well.

Stencil Cream or regular wall paint

A stencil brush

Temporary spray adhesive (this is especially helpful if you have textured walls as we do)

Paper towels

Painters tape

Level

Tape measure

Note: You may find the need to wash your stencil several times during the process of painting. I did this with a scrub brush in the laundry room sink and then dried it flat with a rag on an outdoor table on both sides of the stencil.

How to:

1. Tape off the ceiling and floor. If you have baseboards you can either remove them or tape them. It's easier to do the bottom of the wall if you remove them. We don't have baseboards so it was rather a pain in the bum. More about that later.

2. Tape the ends of the wall where you will stop the stencil.

3. I decided to start from the middle and work my way left and right because I wanted the stencil centered on the wall. If you are going to do this, you'll now measure the wall and mark the center.

4. Take your stencil outside and spray the back of the stencil with the temporary spray adhesive. This will allow you to stick the stencil to the wall nice and flat and easily remove it. You won't need to tape it on.

5. Place your stencil at the top of the wall in the centered point. Use your level to make sure it is level. Once you have it nice and even, press in place.

6. Dip your brush in stencil cream/paint. Wipe the brush off until it's nearly dry. Stipple all of the cut outs in the stencil until it's covered in paint. Make sure you limit the amount of paint on your brush by wiping every time you dip so that no excess paint seeps underneath the stencil. And also be sure to tap your brush instead of wiping the brush up and down. The whole goal is to not get paint underneath the stencil.

7. After you finish your first stencil, move the stencil down or over by using the registration marks on the stencil. My stencil did not have registration marks, but rather it overlapped where I'd already painted. The label of the stencil will show you where you match up each consecutive piece. 

8. Keep painting until you have finished the entire wall. I finished both the left and right edges which were partial stencils before I finished the bottom. The corner was a pain in the butt because you have to bend the stencil. If I had baseboards, I would have removed the baseboard and not worried about the bottom 4-6". But because our home doesn't have baseboards, I had to bring the stencil all the way to the floor. That meant either bending the stencil (a royal pain) or cutting it. I chose to sacrifice the stencil and cut the bottom portion using a ruler and rotary cutter.

That's it! Let me know if you have any questions in the comments below!