Taping off a pattern to paint on the wall can run the gamut from ultra-easy (say, big, wide stripes) to mind-boggling (honeycomb hexagons, anyone?). Here’s a design that looks complex but is a cinch to create, since it’s completely free-form and demands no measuring. The only must: keeping the tape taut and straight to make crisp rectilinear shapes.
Designer Sarah Richardson came up with the whimsical accent wall for a bedroom in her family’s mid-century house. “The best part of a pattern like this is that it takes minutes to tape it up, and you can instantly see if you like the design before committing time and paint to making it permanent,” she says. Want to reposition some of the tape to adjust the pattern? Just keep a sharp safety-razor blade handy to free any strips that get trapped on either side of an intersection.
The three related shades of aqua here, accented with a bolder gold, offer an updated take on classic mid-century colors. Wrapping the room in soft neutrals—a powdery pale-blue base coat that covers the other three walls and is echoed in the furnishings—lets the playful geometric pattern assume center stage. The result: a spirited paint treatment that won’t get in the way of snoozing.