Mermaid's Birthday Cake

I wanted to give this room a vibrant coastal cottage feel, so I decided to stripe it with a rich aqua that would be the color of a  Mermaid's Birthday Cake! As I floated the aqua across the textured plaster walls it resembled icing peaks. I almost licked it once, but I didn't. I found the image of this cake on another blog that had a gorgeous sea themed party and I wanted to share it:
http://www.ala-parisienne.com/2011/05/la-fete-d-blue-celebration-with-ocean.html   
When you see my stripe room you will see why this cake and my walls relate.

Here is how I did it:
This room had a lot of wall repair, if you remember the room that had all the plaster falling down, all the chipped up mess, well this is THAT room. It was primed white, then painted with a flat white to hide even more flaws. Any shine would have emphasized the imperfect areas.

 BEFORE

BEFORE

Here it is all white and the stripes are mapped out with chalk,  12 inches apart. I like that size, it isn't to small, which looks busy,  and it isn't too large. 12 inches, the magic stripe size for most rooms. I also kept the shelves all white, I like this for a cottage look, plus I have a lot of cool things to place on the shelf and I want it to display well against the white.

 The stripes are started with painter's tape that is applied to expose the 'to be' painted stripe. Once you cover it with 2 coats, you can removed the tape. You will have to 'cut in' the ceiling and the base board and anywhere along edges that touch a window or a shelf.

 Because of the age of these walls and the freshly painted white paint, we did get a little 'lifting' of paint, even though the walls had been dry for nearly a week. Not all walls do this, especially newer drywall ones. Remember these walls are a combination of plaster, painted wallpaper, drywall and lots of drywall mud. The lifting was minor and all you have to do it touch it up with a brush.

 Moving right along.... The fabric on the mantel will be used as the curtains in the room, can't wait!!!!

 All the way around!

 Notice the old swing arm rods, I will keep these and make the drapes to hang from them. My Mom is covering to chair bottoms to match it too. You will see more of this room later, maybe it will be a Mermaid Party....wink wink!