A few weeks ago, I shared our plan to update our little guy’s bedroom. We knew we wanted to incorporate yellow, his favorite color, and wanted stripes on the wall. But we weren’t sure if we wanted to go with blue or green. I was so happy to work with Glidden® paint and My Colortopia so we could really visualize the paint colors in the room. We decided to go with blue stripes, and our whole family just loves it, especially Max! So many of you weighed in and said that blue is a calming color, and you were so right! Paired with graphic stripes, and the pops of red and yellow, it is the perfect little boy room. We learned a lot about painting stripes along the way, so I thought I would share a few of those tips. We started with the plain tan walls. It’s a good neutral color, but the paint was flat and after two years in the house, it needed to be freshened up. Plus, Max has been asking for his walls to be painted a fun color! The good news was, flat paint is an easy surface to paint over.
We used Glidden Duo™ Paint + Primer in Swiss Coffee (white) and Rich Navy. The paint was wonderful to work with, and the Rich Navy is just such an absolutely gorgeous color. It really is just a deep and rich blue color, not blackish-blue or cobalt blue. One of the great things about Glidden paint is that they don’t confuse you with several shades of the same color. The Rich Navy is the perfect example. This is the ideal navy blue color, and I am seriously in love with it. We started by painting over the tan with two coats of Swiss Coffee. On the two walls with the stripes, we didn’t worry about cutting in at the ceiling and floor because the navy stripes would start there. Once we had the white base, we were ready to paint the stripes.
Tips for Painting Stripes
1. Measure the wall from floor to ceiling and divide that number by the number of stripes that you want on the wall. An odd number, like 7 or 9 is a good place to start. We have 8 ft walls, and wanted a total of 9 stripes. 96 inches divided by 9 = 10.667
2. Keep it simple and round off the number. We measured off 10 inch stripes and let the stripe at the bottom accommodate the extra inches. It’s a little wider than the rest, but since it so low, you can’t tell. The eye just goes to the pattern and assumes they are all the same width.
3. Use green painter’s tape. We used the blue painter’s tape for delicate (freshly painted surfaces) initially, and got crisper lines on the other wall when we used green tape.
4. Use a laser level and tape off all the stripes. Then mark the stripes you don’t want to paint with extra tape. That way, you can stand back and look and make sure you haven’t made a measuring mistake.
5. Remove the tape while the paint is still wet, no need to let it dry. You risk peeling and damage to the first coat the longer the tape stays on the wall.
Painting the stripes was surprisingly quick, and it was so exciting to remove the tape and see the graphic bold stripes. They instantly transformed the room. My little guy’s room is not huge, and he only has one window. So it was in the back of my mind that it might be too dark in his room with the navy blue. I was happily surprised to see that it was not darker! In reality, we added more light by using the bright fresh white. We are so happy with how it turned out! Max is especially thrilled. He really loved how the blue stripes looked in the Glidden My Colortopia tool preview, and I was happy that the blue color made it easier to find affordable accessories. Plus, the navy stripes worked well with the red dresser and red arrow shelf we already had on hand.
The little side table was built by my stepdad. It’s galvanized pipes and a small piece of redwood. I spray painted the bottom a bright yellow. The red faux leather Moroccan pouf is from Land of Nod, and my son and daughter both love it! The size is perfect to use as an ottoman or as a a seat. It’s now a hot commodity at our house, so we are ordering a pink one for our little girl too. They love pulling it out into the living room to watch a movie or play restaurant. .
The vintage brown leather chair is from my parent’s house. Lucky for us, they don’t have room for it anymore. They recently had the leather straps replaced, and Max really wanted to use it in his room. It’s a Wassily style reproduction chair, and I think it makes a great cozy spot for a young reader. I wanted a fun lamp to go over the chair, so I spray painted this Target find bright yellow.
On the other side of the room, Max’s vintage school desk is the perfect space for homework and art work. I rescued it from the road side a few year ago, and didn’t do anything but clean it.
We found the red arrow shelf last year at a small boutique shop. I kew I wanted to use it in Max’s room eventually!
The red vintage dresser is also from my stepdad. He painted it a glossy red and added the brass accents when he was a teenager. Max loves Star Wars, so I created a simple poster in Photoshop and had it printed in an hour at Walgreens. It’s 20×30, and make a great focal point on the simple white wall. The dog bust and the yellow wire basket are both HomeGoods finds.
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This post is sponsored by Glidden paint, but all thoughts and opinions are my own.
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This might be my favorite boy room makeover EVER! I’m so glad you went with the blue stripes – they look AMAZING! The entire room is fabulous! I want it all, especially that rug and the arrow shelf! 🙂
Thank you so much, Heidi!!! You are so sweet!!!!
I tweeted about it for the sweepstakes entry as well (not sure if I did it right though, but oh well!) https://twitter.com/HiHomemadeBlog/status/369565595333038080
I’d like to paint our master bathroom.
tweet–https://twitter.com/mami2jcn/status/369604204681109504
I love the color scheme of this room, it is perfect for for a growing boy! The contrast of the stripes in the rug and on the wall are awesome!
Thank you, thank you, Jacque:0)
WOW – this is a super cool room and I bet Max will love it for years to come! I love all the details and the mix of modern and vintage!
Thank you, Keri! I hope he does!
WOW! This room looks great; it is so put together. What a transformation, AND it must be nice to have a room marked off the decorating list as “done!”
Thank you, Jenny! It is so nice, and it’s giving me the kick to get some other rooms done!
knock me over! it’s amazing!!!!!!!!
I would love to redo my grandson’s room. We have been working on acquiring some of the stuff but lack the finishing touches. He is our miracle grandson and we are so blessed to have him.
I want to paint our kitchen
https://twitter.com/ElenaIstomina/status/369639392710635520
This is an Awesome makeover! We’ve been wanting to make over our kitchen – but are on a budget and want to do as much of it as we can on our own. So, I’d start with paint, then move on to counters and cabinets, and last appliances.
What a lucky boy!!! It’s spectacular!!!
I would like to paint my bedroom, its very bland
tweeted
https://twitter.com/bdiane35/status/369647269253251072
It looks amazing Melissa! I love the colors and all of the fun patterns! Love, love, love!
Oh my word, this is incredible! I love love the bold look you gave it. It looks fabulous.
This looks amazing! My little boys favorite color is yellow, too! I’ve been looking for a way to incorporate yellow into his room and I think I’ve found the perfect inspiration! Looks like Ill be buying some painters tape this weekend!
What room DON’T I want to paint?! I would LOVE to redo Harper’s room like this one, bathrooms, living room, kitchen, and dining room! Hope I can win, even tho I don’t have Twitter.
Absolutely love this. Painting lines can be so intimidating – it’s all about the prep work and these came out beautifully!
Very cute! I love the arrow shelf and old school desk.
i would do my baby boy’s bedroom
tweet
https://twitter.com/MeandBells/status/369845608015597570
WOW. I looooove this room so so much! The red accents add so much to the blue and yellow, and I am totally jealous of that amazing chair. My parents don’t have anything remotely as cool to pass down. 🙂 Awesome job, friend!! Love every detail!
I would love to paint my sons nursery navy blue and white with some lime green
tweet
https://twitter.com/1amypugmire/status/369982094098702336
You did a fantastic job on this makeover! I absolutely love the stripes and all the little details in the room. My little guy’s favorite color is yellow too!
Oh my goodness, I LOVE this boys room! I just finished my boys room a few months ago,and it was tough, so I know this was. That rug rocks my world,and your stripes are amazing! Pinning!!
Wow! What an amazing transformation! It looks fantastic and I love the colors you chose. Very boy and so cute!
This is AMAZING, Melissa!! Love, love, love those stripes, girl!
Omg, omg, omg!! This is awesome! Can you come and redo my son’s room (I think he is tired of Winnie the Pooh 🙂 ) So cool!
Looks Great! I want to paint my family room. It’s white now and I’d like to put some color on the walls.
https://twitter.com/susan1215/status/371430447810490369
Love the color you pick for the room! I would like to paint our living room
tcarolinep at gmail dot com
-https://twitter.com/tcarolinep/status/371472958226964480
Love! Love! Love this room Melissa and my favorite part is the poster – I need to make one for Reece 🙂
You did an AMAZING job my friend! I really love the decor and that rug! So so cute!
I’d love to paint our sunroom. Right now it’s rough cedar walls. Needs some help!
i’d like to repaint the master bedroom
https://twitter.com/HappyTina0115/status/373537161598885888
I would like to paint our bathroom.
austma7@aol.com
my room
id like to pain the bathroom its time for a change
my girlfriend and i would love to repaint our bathroom, the last color we used came out aweful so the quicker i can get it redone the better
I need to paint the bathroom – it is burnt orange in color and that color makes the room dark.
jslbrown_03 at yahoo dot com
tweet – https://twitter.com/LuLu_Brown24/status/373760467761524737
jslbrown_03 at yahoo dot com
Not sure yet, but our bathroom, possibly. I’m bored with the white walls in there.
I love the way your room turned out. Quite creative.
I’d love to paint our familyroom. I was thinking a very pale soft green.
Thanks so much.
I would love to start with my bathroom. It could really use more than paint, but that would be a start!
Tweet
https://twitter.com/clc408/status/373837604589826049
I would like to paint our bathroom it needs some work.
I would love to paint my bedroom!
Bahtroom yellow
I would like to paint the living room. It hasn’t been painted in over 10 years.
There isn’t a room in my house that doesn’t need new paint. I’d love to do my daughter’s room and the kitchen/entry way too.
Wow your room is amazing! I’d like to redo my master bath
I’d like to paint my bathroom.
I would like to paint our computer room, but we have not decided on the color yet.
tweet
https://twitter.com/kellydsaver/status/374574867254743040
Love what you did with that room! It looks fun and great 🙂 I’d love to paint my bathroom! Make it a little more cheery and a little less plain 🙂
Tweeted 🙂 – https://twitter.com/Enter_Now/status/374574429097197568
At our house we are currently turning the basement into an apartment for my daughter’s family….fun…fun…fun!!
tweet: https://twitter.com/cancer_free_me/status/374685374590644225
My bedroom for sure.
Love to do my spare bedroom now. This is the best boy’s room I think I’ve ever seen! Heck I’D love this room!!!
i’d love to repaint our hallways . too many dirty kid fingers have left their marks
Our bedroom is plain white, so I would like to paint it a pretty color.
Really need to do over the bedroom. It is a plain boring white color that is peeling
I’d like to paint my bedroom.
dolniaks at consolidated dot net
https://twitter.com/smilekisses/status/375447136852123648
dolniaks at consolidated dot net
I love what you did in that bedroom! I would love to transform my livingroom.
I get inspiration from fabric designs.
I need to paint my guest room but your post has inspired me to paint my son’s room. The stripes are awesome –
I twitted @sufferngal
link: https://www.number-2-pencil.com/2013/08/19/boy-room-makeover/
Within the last year, we have repainted nearly every room in the house…except the master bedroom because we could not decide (or agree) on a color that we would both want to live with every single day. I change my bedspread often, so I am afraid of picking a wall color that would limit my options for bedspreads. Basically, I am too indecisive and I don’t know if I will ever settle on a color…so either my walls will remain white, or I will begin changing the wall color as often as I change my bedspread.
I’d love to paint my daughter’s room next but it will be quite a chore because she has this bed with drawers that we’d probably have to take apart to move it!
Tweet link: https://twitter.com/shala_darkstone/status/376329963474939904
I’d love to paint my kitchen! Thanks!
Tweet!
https://twitter.com/KaizenFashion/status/376374302959874049
I love it! I want to paint my son’s room next.
I’d like to get our living room painted in a welcoming bright color. It’s so brown and ugly right now, lol.
Great job! I don’t think stripes are in my future, because I’d be terrified I would get them all wonky. So I’ll just admire yours.
In our house I would like to pain the master bedroom and bathroom. But not the same color. Unless I find a color so perfect I just love it to bits.
I want to paint my boy’s room.
i want to paint my living room
I’d like to paint the bedroom with an accent wall.
I love what you did!
Thank you.
Tweeted https://twitter.com/JalapenoMama/status/377277669966376960
my kitchen looks so awful its hard to choose where to start or what color to use pryfamily5@gmail.com
tweeted https://twitter.com/pryfamily5/status/377487634735460352 pryfamily5@gmail.com
Um…All of them? Well my bedroom is probably the most in need.
I love your stripes! I have always wanted to try that – maybe someday.
I Tweeted: https://twitter.com/SavingForLater/status/377743946241175552
i’d love to paint my son’s room
https://twitter.com/raggammuffin/status/379271788154220545
I would love to paint my downstairs bathroom, the previous owners painted it yellow. I am just struggling to decide what color because my Husband and I have very different ideas, I prefer pastels and he likes black!
Tweeted
https://twitter.com/mummytotwoboys1/status/380482226837676032
Our bathroom could use an update.
Would love to paint my living room. I just need to find some inspiration.
tweet https://twitter.com/hburmeister/status/381224495135981568
We just redid the entire downstairs. Next up is the upstairs bath and spare bedroom.
our kitchen!
https://twitter.com/scg00387/status/381978870284435456
I would love to paint my bedroom…it’s so drab right now
*tweet, tweet*
https://twitter.com/emmycoffee/status/382054161618989056
I would like to paint our living room next.
It turned out very nice! I like the deeper navy blue you decided on. Great job!
Hello! I featured your bedroom makeover in my monthly blog series, Get Your Color On!. Each month I select a color, provide tips on how to decorate with it, and feature other bloggers with their projects that relate to this color.
This month’s post is all about red, so I featured this bedroom because you did such a wonderful job coordinating the red, blue, and yellow. It’s a great example of how red looks great with other colors and perfect for a boy’s room! Feel free to grab a Get Your Color On! featured button and check out my post at
Get Your Color On! Red . Thanks for sharing your amazing creativity!
Thanks so much, Angela!
I’d love to paint my daughter’s room!
tweeted https://twitter.com/pittsy82/status/382337077930897408
The teal in the living room, but alas I live in a rental.
I would love to paint my kitchen.
I would paint the living room. The chips on the wall and the uneven color done by the builder need to painted over.The color is not even a neutral color.
I would love to paint my kitchen!
i need to remove some old wallpaper and paint my kitchen
debbiebellows (at) gmail (dot) com
Wow that turned out amazing. I want to do my youngest son’s bedroom it need new paint bad it has old wallpaper right now.
https://twitter.com/eaglesforjack/status/383351054135357442
I would love to paint our living room a chocolate brown!
I’d like to repaint the guest bedroom it’s basically white….and boring. I’m a color person, so this white has GOT TO GO!
tweeted
https://twitter.com/MelindaJoy926/status/383695908317036544
I have two big dogs who drool, shake their heads and splatter everywhere. Every room could use new paint.
My living room needs a major change. It beyond boring.
Ours is easier because we have a Victorian. We saw a similar house with warmer less ‘museum-esque’ colors and copied accordingly.
ky2here at msn dot com
I think I’d like to do the bathrooms next.
i tweeted here: https://twitter.com/bellows22/status/384048177596600320
want to repaint the bedroom
My last project was painting my son’s bedroom orange with stripes because that is his favorite color.
https://twitter.com/AliciaJennette/status/384310280533970945
I need to paint my living room!!! ky_grandma40@yahoo.com
I want to paint my bedroom.
I want to paint my kitchen.
I would really like to change up our bedroom
https://twitter.com/mermont84/status/384442080828723201
looks great!! i want to paint our kitchen!!
Need to paint the family room
I would like to paint my bedroom. It’s all white and has not been repainted since we first moved in 21 years ago. A touch of color would really bring it to life.
tweeted
https://twitter.com/eswright18/status/384680548775784448
Id love to paint my bedroom
My bathroom! 1/2 of the drywall is gone due to a leak that ruined it and the rest of the walls have not been painted in 7 years!
I tweeted here: https://twitter.com/MsTofuFairy/status/384694928166510594
https://twitter.com/aes529/status/384694976237404160
i would like to paint our spare bedroom next
i really wanna paint the kitchen. My fave is neutral colors
I would love to repaint my living room and make it more bright
tbarrettno1 at gmail dot com
tweet
https://twitter.com/ChelleB36/status/384734757718081537
tbarrettno1 at gmail dot com
I need to paint my baby’s girl new room 🙂
I’d like to paint the kitchen.
I would like to paint my bathroom.
I want to paint my living room.
https://twitter.com/thomasmurphy40/status/384762348465954816
I love the vertical stripes with the chevron rug. I want to paint our dining room – but we’ll wait a while since we just finished our daughter’s bedroom
i would like to paint my bedroom.
I would love to work on my bedroom next!
tweeted! https://twitter.com/lieutcrunch25/status/384797610051391489
My current project is the master bathroom.. my inspiration came from humming birds =)
https://twitter.com/SheaBalentine/status/384804361672859648
when I got a new couch.
My son’s bedroom could use some paint.
I’m making the spare bedroom over into a work/reading room and need to brighten it up with a “snazzy” paint job.
I would love to paint my kitchen next
https://twitter.com/electricstar/status/384856763998019584
Hope I did this right!
https://twitter.com/anahsskcor/status/384868343875784705
Love the Star Wars poster. What font did you use?
Love the star wars wall decor. What font did you use? I would love to hang that in the bathroom lol.