Stencilling Art

A stenciled room has a charm all of its own. Follow this simple guide to stenciling attractive and effective borders, and enhance the look of your home.

As well as looking very attractive, a stenciled border can have an architectural impact, in the same way as a wallpaper border. It can highlight existing features such as arches and fireplaces, and make featureless interiors more interesting.

In a room with bare walls, a stenciled border can add character and subtly alter the proportions of the room, making it look more elegant, or cozier.

A stenciled border can be used at skirting board, dado or picture rail level, or immediately below the ceiling to make it seem lower. Around windows and doors a stenciled border frames and decorates in the same way as a wallpaper border, but with a more individual character.

Also, of course, any part of a border stencil can be picked out and reproduced as a separate motif on items of furniture and accessories, for a coordinated room color and pattern scheme.

A stenciled border can be continuous or non-continuous. A continuous border is a line of motifs repeated without any breaks.

Usually the stencil is self-overlapping, and made from clear acetate so that you can easily register the overlaps.

A non-continuous border is a line of repeated but separate motifs and is made with a stand-alone stencil. The stencil can be made of acetate or card; acetate is often easier to use as it is flexible and transparent.

Stenciling a border isn’t difficult if you use a pre-cut stencil. It is also worth paying a little extra for proper stencil paint when stenciling a border; its quick drying properties allow you to work steadily around the room without having to keep stopping to wait for it to dry.

Careful planning is the key to a successful stenciled border. First decide on the position of the border. If you put it immediately above or below a dado or picture rail, or at ceiling height or skirting board level, you have a ready line to guide you.

Otherwise, use a spirit level to find the true horizontal, and lightly pencil a dotted line all the way around the wall to mark the top or bottom of the stencil, as appropriate.

Continuous stenciling

With a continuous border, start by marking the mid point of the most eye-catching section of wall. Center the first stencil above or below this mark as appropriate, then work away from it in both directions.

You can continue some designs straight around