Taping, Painting, and Questioning My Life Choices

I’ve spent a lot of time lately scrolling through Pinterest for inspiration, and one theme kept catching my eye — stripes. Clean, crisp, timeless stripes that somehow make a space feel playful and sophisticated. I’ve never actually painted stripes before, but something about them just felt right for the girls’ shared bathroom.

While I love the look of wallpaper, our heavily textured walls always bring me back to a paintbrush. (One day I’ll have smooth walls and a wallpaper moment, but today is not that day.) Painting stripes felt like the perfect compromise — it gives the space personality without overwhelming it, and it breaks up some of the other design choices I’ve made in our home where I’ve leaned into murals or more abstract wall art. This room needed something clean and fresh, and stripes felt like the perfect answer.

The Prep Work (aka The Part No One Tells You Takes Forever)

Before a single stripe could happen, I had to do a major reset in here. I started by removing all the old hooks and hardware that had been collecting over the years. Then came filling in the holes, sanding them down, and covering up the beige walls with a bright white base coat. That step alone completely changed the feel of the room — it suddenly felt open, airy, and ready for a new chapter.

The Stripe Game Plan

Here’s where the real challenge began. I knew if I wanted the stripes to look intentional and polished, they had to be perfectly even. That’s where my secret weapon came in: a laser measuring tool that my dad and brother (both professionals in the field) let me borrow. Let’s just say it’s saving me years of time — and a lot of tears.

Each stripe has to be carefully taped off, measured, and leveled. Once everything is taped, I go over the edges with the same white base color before painting the stripe color. This helps seal the tape and keeps paint from bleeding underneath — a trick that makes all the difference for clean lines. After that dries, I’ll finally be able to paint the stripe color, peel the tape, and reveal the final pattern.

Even though this is shaping up to be one of my most time-consuming paint projects ever, I can already tell it’s going to be worth it. The scale of this bathroom gives me room to play with bigger design elements, and these stripes bring such a sense of order and fun at the same time. It’s been a lot of measuring, taping, and double-checking — but also a reminder of how much I love projects that push me out of my comfort zone.

I’ll be sharing the finished look soon, but for now, here’s your little sneak peek: lots of tape, my color finalists, and a whole lot of excitement for what’s to come.