Dressing up a wall

Since the previous weekend was a complete bust, due to weather... I was itching to get SOMETHING done around the house!

And I have to say, we were busy!  But there was only one project that we actually completed.

Ever since I painted the little hallway back at the beginning of October, I've been going back & forth on how to fancy it up a bit.

Here's where we started:                                        And some progress, with a gray base coat:
                                                 

I considered doing a stamp in silver, on top of the gray. 
I even went so far as purchasing this stamp online--->

And when I tried it out, it just looked like a silver blob. 
The tree lost all definition. 

Not the look I was going for.

Next I saw this post about "painted wallpaper" by Emily at Jones Design Company. 

SO Pretty! 

I downloaded the template, and got tracing...

I thought I was all set with my paint choice- Valspar Brilliant Metals, Violet Gleam. 
Until I read the directions on the paint chip more closely... it wasn't a mixed color, it required a very dark purple base coat, with the finishing coat on top to make it shimmery.  Well, that wasn't going to work!  UGH!


So, as is typical, I decided to wing it  (with hubby looking on doubtfully!)
I picked up this silver metallic glaze & mixed in some left over paint from the master bathroom (thank goodness we took that with us when we moved!) 
It mixed perfectly (whew!)

I got out a couple of brushes... the sponge ones didn't work.  They'd probably be great if it was a pattern with straight lines, but this had too many curves, and the sponge didn't give me enough control.

I raided my son's art box & came up with this smaller craft brush.  I also found this stencil in there (should have checked there before ordering that stamp online!) 

But more on the stencil later...

Emily had done a double pattern, tracing the inside of each line.  I tried to replicate it, but didn't have much luck.  I'm a little short on patience, and apparently more of a "color within the lines" kind of gal.

Which I'm okay with,
given the results!

  

Here's a view from the main hallway  --->
I thought about continuing around the hallway, but the uneven ceiling would likely be even more noticeable with a pattern on it!

On the right side of the photo, you can sort of see the purple bathroom.  This hallway will eventually be our walk-in closet, so I think the silvery/purple pattern will be a nice transition from our (soon-to-be) gray bedroom into the dark purple bathroom.



<--- Here's a view from the bedroom door, looking into the bathroom.  That wall remained plain gray.

I'm pretty tickled with how the whole thing turned out!

 

Update: 
I did another version of this stencil in the new master closet... you can check that out here.

So, back to the stencil I found in my son's art box... 

Of course, as soon as I got out the paint my little  hooligans helpers showed up.  To keep them busy, I gave them the discarded sponge brushes & some card stock.
My three year old covered the paper with the metallic purple.  My six year old used the stencil.

After they dried, I got an old frame out of the attic (can't believe it was actually already purple!) and put them together. 

I think I'm going to put it on the wall in the bedroom, to bring together the whole master suite color scheme.  That is... once we get the bedroom painted (fingers crossed for this week!)

And I just found a couple of little purple hand prints on the kid's bathroom wall (on the way to the sink!) 

Mr. Clean Magic Erasers to the rescue!