If wallpaper intimidates you, then you’re going to love this DIY sharpie wallpaper in a herringbone pattern.
Ah I’m so excited for today’s project!! Since this quarantine, I’ve been trying to keep busy, updating the house. Before we moved in, we had every wall painted SW Pure White. This blank canvas has allowed me to create special features, like our SW Naval over-sized kitchen island, and accent walls, like today’s herringbone design.
I recently saw Cynthia Harper and her son design this Sharpie wall on Instagram and decided to do some research on using Sharpie water based markers on walls.
Not only does wallpaper intimidate me, but we have textured walls. Not wanting to take the chance there, I snagged a couple paint markers and designed a DIY stencil. You can download our FREE stencil here.
The bottom half of the wall packs a punch with Behr Black Magic.
Tips for Painting Clean Lines on Textured Walls
Painting a color block on textured walls is possible, with an extra step.
- Tape off your area with painter’s tape. (Frog Tape usually performs the best for me.)
- You want to take your finger and slide it across the tape, pressing firmly; pushing the tape into the textured wall as best as you can.
- For this step, you’ll need your original wall color (or ceiling paint if you’re taping off the top (wall/ceiling). Paint the lower portion of your painter’s tape to create a seal. This is to completely lock in that painter’s tape so your new color doesn’t bleed underneath. (Depending on how thick it applies, you may need two coats.)
- Wait until your base color is completely dry.
- Once dry you can paint your new color! Remove painter’s tape while paint is still wet to prevent cracking.
Press tape firmly into the textured wall.
Paint your base coat to seal the tape.
Paint your new wall color.
DIY Herringbone Sharpie Wallpaper
Now comes the fun part!
We created our own stencil for this project and I replicated it so you can download it for free. You will need to print onto 11×17 paper and cut 1″ off the right, leaving a 1″ border on both sides. Trace, using carbon paper, on to a thick cardstock or manilla folder. Use an exacto knife to cut out the pattern.
You can also purchase this design stencil pre-made here.
To start, I found the center of my wall and placed the stencil on the wall, securing it with blue (delicate) painter’s tape so it wouldn’t shift while I was painting.
I used this Sharpie paint marker (2), but another option would be to use the same Black Magic paint and a stencil brush to apply the stencil.
Once I painted the entire stencil, I moved it down, lining up the last herringbone lines with the first lines on the stencil. This way you will be even the entire way down.
Because there is 1″ between the herringbone print, I created the stencil to have a 1″ border as well. When you start the next column, you will just need to line your stencil right up against the last column you painted.
The paint markers dry very quick! You shouldn’t have any problems with smudging as you work with the stencil, but be cautious just in case. If you make any mistakes, you will need to paint over them.
This entire wall cost me $35 (1 gallon of paint – definitely more than I needed) + $16 for 2 Sharpie markers = $51 and just 2 hours to complete. Sharpie wallpaper costs less than your traditional wallpaper!
