TurboBlog
Well-known member
Hello all,
Now that my garage is getting further along, I can finally start contributing to this awesome community that's helped me in so many ways!
When it came time to decide my garage colors, I relied on a few threads on here to guide me. As much as I truly love some of the colorful and creative schemes, I am colorblind and enjoy working with shades of gray, as I can make those out with no problems. Yes, dressing myself can be a challenge, but you just stick with what you know. An understanding wife helps too.
After looking at all of the great garage photos on here, I decided to go with an ultra white flat on the upper walls, Behr "Gray Area" (#770F-4) Semi Gloss on the lower walls and a black stripe to add some contrast. I had originally chose a darker gray from the same color card to use as my stripe, but after reading about difficulty in getting clean lines I started looking into other options.
A member on the forum (can't find the post at the moment) shared his experience with vinyl stripe and I was intrigued! He seemed to have a good experience and it looked great, so I gave it a shot.
First up, I measured the garage to determine the amount of stripe I would need and width that would look best. I used black construction paper taped to the wall to see which width worked. 3" wide looked better overall in my opinion.
Next I went to http://www.vinylstriping.com and ordered up a roll of their 3" wide Avery premium gloss black vinyl stripe. The roll is 150' which was more than enough for me. I figured I could lay some racing stripes on the family truckster with the leftovers.
Just a couple days later my order arrived! It was well packed and included a plastic applicator, which was an essential tool for this project. They also threw in a freebie sticker, which my daughter loved.
I got the necessary tools together and got started! You'll need a good clean work surface, a lovely assistant, the striping, a fresh razor blade, a quality laser level (got this one on Amazon as a Black Friday deal
) and a square to make straight cuts to the stripe as needed.
It took a bit of rigging to mount the laser level at the right height. This looks goofy, but was solid and reliable. I had a camera tripod that could mount to the level, but it didn't get nearly high enough. This did the trick.
Here's what the walls looked like before laying the stripe. When you paint your bottom color, just measure all around the room and mark the approximate middle of the stripe height with blue tape. I did my best to blend the gray against the white, so there wouldn't be a visible paint line under the stripe.
Next, fire up your laser and check that it's level. This is a self-leveling unit, which I cannot recommend enough! It's also powerful enough to project all around the walls, which made things easier.
Here's a shot of the laser level in action. I struggled to find a decent one (at a reasonable price) in local stores. The online reviews were terrible! I am very pleased with this one, and have since used it for many little things around the house- like entertaining the cats, for example.
The frickin' laser beam is now active!
Don't look at it or you will die, I'm pretty sure.
Now we're getting somewhere! I didn't measure then cut, we just unrolled a section of stripe on the wall and cut it then, allowing a little extra at one end to trim. This worked very well. Next you remove the adhesive backing and place the stripe on the wall using the plastic applicator in the first picture and your frickin' laser beam as a guide. This was far easier than I expected and only got a few bubbles that were easily worked out with the applicator. This is some thick stuff.
Now that the stripe is on the wall, you get to do the fun stuff and remove the protective masking tape! This stuff is really on here, so our technique was to use a hairdryer, pulling back horizontally while I used a microfiber towel to smooth and work out any bubbles in the stripe. This step takes time, but is very important.
Here we are about a 1/3 of the way through. I don't usually pat myself on the back too excessively, but this was looking incredible! My wife and I were shocked at how well it was turning out. And not a singe paint brush was deflowered that day.
Once we finished striping the walls where the laser line was visible, I just rotated the ladder around to project on the remaining areas. Do not look into the laser beam. You and your dog will die in a fiery explosion. Either that or you'll be in Stevie Wonder mode the rest of your waking moments.
Quick shot of the front wall in progress. These short sections went quickly.
Ta-Da! Here's the finished product!
I'm very pleased with how this whole project went. The stripe vendor sells a quality product at a fair price with fast shipping, the install was very straightforward and fun and the results speak for themselves. You just can't get lines like this with paint! (Or at least I can't!) I would highly recommend this approach if you have smooth walls and want nice clean lines.
Thanks for reading! Check out my garage build that I recently posted to see the rest of the fun.
Now that my garage is getting further along, I can finally start contributing to this awesome community that's helped me in so many ways!
When it came time to decide my garage colors, I relied on a few threads on here to guide me. As much as I truly love some of the colorful and creative schemes, I am colorblind and enjoy working with shades of gray, as I can make those out with no problems. Yes, dressing myself can be a challenge, but you just stick with what you know. An understanding wife helps too.
After looking at all of the great garage photos on here, I decided to go with an ultra white flat on the upper walls, Behr "Gray Area" (#770F-4) Semi Gloss on the lower walls and a black stripe to add some contrast. I had originally chose a darker gray from the same color card to use as my stripe, but after reading about difficulty in getting clean lines I started looking into other options.
A member on the forum (can't find the post at the moment) shared his experience with vinyl stripe and I was intrigued! He seemed to have a good experience and it looked great, so I gave it a shot.
First up, I measured the garage to determine the amount of stripe I would need and width that would look best. I used black construction paper taped to the wall to see which width worked. 3" wide looked better overall in my opinion.
Next I went to http://www.vinylstriping.com and ordered up a roll of their 3" wide Avery premium gloss black vinyl stripe. The roll is 150' which was more than enough for me. I figured I could lay some racing stripes on the family truckster with the leftovers.
Just a couple days later my order arrived! It was well packed and included a plastic applicator, which was an essential tool for this project. They also threw in a freebie sticker, which my daughter loved.
I got the necessary tools together and got started! You'll need a good clean work surface, a lovely assistant, the striping, a fresh razor blade, a quality laser level (got this one on Amazon as a Black Friday deal
) and a square to make straight cuts to the stripe as needed.
It took a bit of rigging to mount the laser level at the right height. This looks goofy, but was solid and reliable. I had a camera tripod that could mount to the level, but it didn't get nearly high enough. This did the trick.
Here's what the walls looked like before laying the stripe. When you paint your bottom color, just measure all around the room and mark the approximate middle of the stripe height with blue tape. I did my best to blend the gray against the white, so there wouldn't be a visible paint line under the stripe.
Next, fire up your laser and check that it's level. This is a self-leveling unit, which I cannot recommend enough! It's also powerful enough to project all around the walls, which made things easier.
Here's a shot of the laser level in action. I struggled to find a decent one (at a reasonable price) in local stores. The online reviews were terrible! I am very pleased with this one, and have since used it for many little things around the house- like entertaining the cats, for example.
The frickin' laser beam is now active!
Don't look at it or you will die, I'm pretty sure.
Now we're getting somewhere! I didn't measure then cut, we just unrolled a section of stripe on the wall and cut it then, allowing a little extra at one end to trim. This worked very well. Next you remove the adhesive backing and place the stripe on the wall using the plastic applicator in the first picture and your frickin' laser beam as a guide. This was far easier than I expected and only got a few bubbles that were easily worked out with the applicator. This is some thick stuff.
Now that the stripe is on the wall, you get to do the fun stuff and remove the protective masking tape! This stuff is really on here, so our technique was to use a hairdryer, pulling back horizontally while I used a microfiber towel to smooth and work out any bubbles in the stripe. This step takes time, but is very important.
Here we are about a 1/3 of the way through. I don't usually pat myself on the back too excessively, but this was looking incredible! My wife and I were shocked at how well it was turning out. And not a singe paint brush was deflowered that day.
Once we finished striping the walls where the laser line was visible, I just rotated the ladder around to project on the remaining areas. Do not look into the laser beam. You and your dog will die in a fiery explosion. Either that or you'll be in Stevie Wonder mode the rest of your waking moments.
Quick shot of the front wall in progress. These short sections went quickly.
Ta-Da! Here's the finished product!
I'm very pleased with how this whole project went. The stripe vendor sells a quality product at a fair price with fast shipping, the install was very straightforward and fun and the results speak for themselves. You just can't get lines like this with paint! (Or at least I can't!) I would highly recommend this approach if you have smooth walls and want nice clean lines.
Thanks for reading! Check out my garage build that I recently posted to see the rest of the fun.
