Stripes, Stripes, and more Stripes

I have this thing with stripes right now. The last couple of times I have gone clothes shopping (which, let's be honest, hardly EVER happens), I've looked down and 4 out of 5 of the things in my hand to try on have stripes. It's a problem.

This winter, my kids were really sick. Croup, ear infections, colds, roseola, all sorts of fun things. By the end of January, we had been stuck inside so much that this one big white wall in my kitchen/dining area was starting to really bug me. I painted almost all of the main floor light gray (Benjamin Moore's Revere Pewter, to be exact) but I left this wall white. I had already put up vinyl that I didn't want to take down and throw away. That's the real reason why I didn't paint it gray. Lazy and cheap.

After the sicknesses, I'd had enough. I searched for accent walls on pinterest and found a striped wall. Perfect! It covered my addiction to all things stripes AND I could leave my vinyl on the wall (if I strategically placed it so it was on a white stripe). I used the extra paint I had from painting my pantry door and my front door (a $9 Home Depot can) and went to town.

By the way, this is the one and only project Dane didn't lift one finger. In fact, he laid on the couch and watched TV while I worked. Typically, our roles are reversed (insert monkey covering face emoji) so I was VERY proud of myself for figuring it all out. 

I ended up taking down the big vinyl letters that spell FAMILY because they were big and easy to not rip. The small letters underneath, I folded down if they were too tall. The tape covered the rest. I put x's on the stripes to NOT paint, because knowing me (I painted after the kids were in bed...I was tired), I would accidentally paint what was supposed to be white.

It took two coats of paint and voila, I now have my striped wall! I get a lot of comments on it (maybe people think it's super weird and have to say something nice in order to cover up what they are thinking), but I think it's pretty fun.

I'm still working on the bench cover. I changed color schemes a bit and want to find a fun navy fabric or a fun yellow fabric (to go with the yellow baskets in the entertainment center) to recover the cushion. This is where the girls and I keep our shoes. Someday we'll have a mud room to put them in, but for now, this is the place!