How to Design a Paint Roller

Decorative wall painting

Paint is one of the fastest ways to transform a room. One method is to paint patterns on the wall, such as stripes or other shapes, to highlight a specific section of wall or create a focal accent. These feature elements present design challenges and opportunities. Traditionally, feature sections might be approached by applying wallpaper, but in rental properties, for example, there are often restrictions to installing wallpaper, although paint is allowed. By embracing odd architectural features, a room's negatives can be turned into a positive.

Things You'll Need

• Ruler
• Permanent marker
• Paint rollers (foam and standard type)
• Serrated edge knife
• Scissors
• Ceiling-height scrap board (to use as a guide)

Instructions

Painting Lines

1. Measure the length of the foam roller. Divide the length by three (for an approximately 2-inch stripe). Mark the roller with two marks at those divisions. Draw a line around the roller at these marks. You can do this by turning the roller while holding the pen in one spot. You can vary this with stripes of different widths to suit your project.

2. Use the serrated edge knife to cut the foam. Cut so that the mark is closer to the inside of the roller. Cut around the roller until the cut reconnects.

3. Use the knife and scissors to remove the foam in the middle (and the marker lines). With some rollers the foam peels back easily, but with others it must be trimmed like a haircut. Work carefully to remove rough edges. This will create consistent lines when painting. It is often helpful to use a piece of straight scrap lumber that reaches floor to ceiling to guide the hand and keep the lines straight. Foam will produce a fairly even appearance on smooth surfaces. With a standard roller this process will produce a more textured set of lines that can look nice and a bit faded.

Painting Shapes

1. Sketch a few shapes on the paper. These might be diamonds, circles, hearts, leaves, suns, moons, question marks or any shape that is easy to identify and define. The shape should be 2 to 3 inches across. Shapes can be mixed on one or more rollers.

2. Cut out the shapes being used. Arrange these on the roller by wrapping each around the body of the roller. Use one shape in different directions on one roller or mix shapes or even shapes and lines. After the basic pattern is determined, use the marker to trace the shape onto the roller.

3. Cut and trim away all the material that will remain in the base wall color. Try for clean edges. Foam rollers will create the sharpest edges; standard rollers may need to be trimmed for the best textural effect. Keep the shapes simple so that they don't become blobs on the wall.

4. Paint using designed rollers between large wall stripes, in wall niches, as borders or to achieve a feature effect around a window or other architectural feature.

Tips & Warnings

• Interesting effects can be achieved when the base paint and the roller pattern are in the same tonal family, creating an organic wallpaper effect. Consider creating the same shape on smaller rollers for corners and hard-to-reach spots.

Resources

• UnWallpaper