So, I’ve been doing this stencil thing for a long time now.  A. really. long. time. You would think I would be bored with it by now. I mean really, how could a person continue to be excited about a simple piece of plastic with some pretty shapes cut into it?! Well the answer is, silly, it’s NOT about the tool, it’s about the results: the pushing of boundaries, the new twists, the endless creative ways to use the dang things! For instance-just today two new super stencil projects came my way that offer all of those things-and they both just happened to be floor projects that are original, inspiring and oh so cool!

Mandi from Vintage Revivals is a good friend to Royal Design Studio stencils, and we “love her guts”-and her amazing eye and ingenious projects. So much so, that when she asked us for a custom, super-sized houndstooth pattern stencil for a floor project she was doing we said “how big?”

Of course, Mandi didn’t just stencil it. She stenciled it with an ombre effect, with colors gradating from light to dark to light again. How cool is that!? Mandi dishes on all the rug stencil details here!

So, thanks to Mandi, you can now houndstooth (is that a verb?) your own floor-or wall with this new large graphic stencil from Royal Design Studio.

To make matters even better, I have ANOTHER cool floor idea for you courtesy of Tara at  Dump Your Frump (how fun is THAT thought?) Tara had the awesome idea to stencil on a plain stone tile floor with our Allover Moroccan Arches pattern. Yes, you can do this-you just need to make sure that the surface is clean and “toothy” (meaning it will allow the paint to bond) and that you finish it off with an appropriate topcoat.

I have stenciled before on “unsealed” stone, like travertine, and its a great look. Well I don’t need to tell you because you can SEE it here. If you use a more translucent paint medium, like a gel stain or fluid acrylic, the color will penetrate and you can still see the texture of the stone. I love the bold color choice here though. The frump had definitely been dumped from THIS powder bath.

Thanks for the floor show, Mandi and Tara!

A couple of weeks ago, I shared some fresh new stenciled looks with some of our classic stencils. I have some more great updated stencil looks to show you today. Hopefully it will spark some ideas and get those creative wheels turning!

The Oriental Brushstroke Chinese stencil is a series of individual fanciful bird and leaf elements that you can scatter at will over a wall to create a loose, painterly wallpaper effect. Here, it looks very soft in shades of blue, but you can use it in metallic colors over dark backgrounds for very dramatic effects too!

A border stencil can be perfect for adding just the right touch of color and design to spark up a plain wall. The Elegancia Border stencil is shown here above a step-in tub. Notice how the gold color ties in with the bath fixture and really warms up the wall. Simple, but effective. If you wanted to add more pattern, this design coordinates with our Elegancia Allover stencil.

Another area to try a wallpaper effect with stencils in on the back wall of an open bookshelf or china cabinet. Here, the Falling Feather stencil is perfect for creating a casual, yet custom effect. This is another fun stencil for scattering across a wall, but would be great on a floor, furniture, or fabric project as well.

The Moroccan Hexagons border stencil can also be repeated to create an allover pattern, as shown here. This pattern is perfect for an entry hall or bathroom wall. Using stencil brushes makes it easy to paint the tile pattern in multiple colors.

Our classic Japanese Cherry Blossom stencil set takes on a fresh, modern vibe in a yellow/gray/cream color scheme. Individual branches are fun to scatter and stencil. Shown in a laundry room setting this design works great in bathrooms, bedrooms, even nurseries!

One of our most classic and popular designs for many years, the Florentine Grille Border stencil comes in three sizes, so you can use it for everything from a ceiling freize to a small furniture stenciling detail. Here the medium size is shown centered and stenciled on drawer fronts in boldly contrasting colors for a clean, contemporary look.

Another pattern that is available in multiple sizes is the allover Victorian Grillwork stencil. This classic floral trellis is perfect for furniture stenciling. The larger version is shown here stenciled on the side of an armoire. It’s a perfect romantic look-yet not too fussy!

I hope you enjoyed this stencil re-fresher. Perhaps you have some older stencil patterns laying around and maybe now are inspired to try them anew in some updated colors. That’s what is so great about stencils! They can take on a whole new attitude with simple changes in color and application. Happy Painting!

Well, the writing is on the wall….and the mirror…and the chest….and the floor!  Our unique new French poetry typography stencil is showing up everywhere these days and it’s thrilling to see it used in so many creative ways. First, the wall…

Michele has a beautiful blog called Hello Lovely Inc. where she mixes lovely imagery with poetic writing. She was smitten with the Springtime in Paris stencil as she is a writer herself and has studied French. A perfect fit! She not only stenciled her bathroom wall…

…but cleverly transformed a mirror she was thinking of throwing out by stenciling directly over the front with acrylic paint.

Stenciling on mirror is always fun because the mirror will reflect your artwork (as well as your feet!), providing an interesting dimensional effect.

Note that you will need to take care cleaning a mirror like this because the paint will not bond super good to the glass. The upside to that is that you can always remove it later if you wish. Michele also has an Etsy shop where she sells lovely vintage jewerly and clever collage art interspersed with her OWN poetry.

The ever talented Miss Mustard Seed, aka Marian, also did a fabulous post this week featuring the Springtime in Paris stencil on a rehabbed vintage chest. Marian’s specialty (well, one of them) is transforming furniture that she sells in her shop in Virginia.

She used Annie Sloan Chalk Paint (of course!) to quickly change the base color from drab green to soft Cream and then stenciled the typography across the from with (appropriately) Paris Gray. I have no doubt this piece will be finding a special home soon!

And now, to the floor!  My dear friend Barb Skivington has a fabulous decorative painting and design studio in High Point, NC called Faux Works. Barb is also an Annie Sloan Chalk Paint distributor and certified national teacher for the line. You are probably seeing ASCP ALL over the blog world used on furniture but the paint can also be applied directly over concrete-to beautiful effect!

Barb mixed it up a bit by adding in other elements such as our Paris Postage Stamp and PostMark, along with quotes we have available as Modello Designs masking patterns here.

We actually did a similar treatment on one of the Marrakech Painting trips, and I absolutely love the layering of words and images for a floor application, don’t you?? Decorative typography can be so inspiring…

I hope this inspires YOU.

Fabric stenciling is an easy, fast, and fun way to create some custom patterned projects around your home. I recently shared a great stenciled Roman shade project that Jen at Tatertots and Jello did with our Chain Link stencil  in this post. Jen does some really lovely DIY projects and I was thrilled to see her latest stencil project post using Royal Design Stencils on fabric napkins from Target to create some chic, coordinated pillows for her kitchen banquette.

Jen used our Chain Link stencil again, and this time paired it with the Endless Circle Lattice stencil. Martha Stewart has recently added her name to a line of new decorative painting products from Plaid, which Jen also used, though any fabric paint would suffice. Gotta love Martha…..

Look how adorable these pillows look on the black checked fabric!  Thanks Jen, for yet another inspiring project! We are enjoying your new stencil addiction!!

Well, summer has come and gone (OH SO quickly!) once again. The kids are back in school and this is traditionally the time of year when lots of people’s thoughts turn to home decorating projects. After all, the holidays are approaching and fall is a great time to freshen things up a bit! We have some freshening up projects going on around here-Royal Design Studio and Modello Designs website redesigns to be exact. Even this pretty but aging  blog. It’s a ridiculous amount of work, but going to be SO worth it…..someday…..soon…..I hope. So, I’ve been doing some housekeeping at Royal Design Studio. Trying to figure out which stencil patterns to “let go” and which to keep. I’ve been selling some of these stencils since the mid 90′s and some of the color and finish representations are looking a bit, well, dated. But just like that old piece of boring brown but highly functional furniture, many of these stencil designs have stood the test of time and could continue to do so if they just had a fresh coat of paint and some perkier colors added. And so, here you go! Some refreshed classic stencil patterns from Royal Design Studio….

Our Granada Border Stencil looks very cool and current stenciled in white as a backsplash pattern over a chalkboard paint finish.

The Delicate Floral Panel stencil pattern is generally used as a wall stencil, but it also makes a great furniture stencil when used in the panels of a large armoire.

We have a small series of stencils inspired by the tragically romantic ruins of Pompeii. This Botanical Column Stencil , with its delicate vines and birds works equally well in other romantic settings. This wall stencil repeats vertically and can be used as a single element of wall decor or repeated around a room for a patterned stripe effect.

Our Large Rosie motif stencil has an chic, Art Deco look. It’s adorable for nurseries or children’s room, especially when stenciled in shades of lipstick pink!

The Brocade Border Stencil has been one of my favorite stencil patterns for years. I love the delicate vine and berries. It has an Indian vibe to it, especially when paired with a punched tin mirror.

Another funky floral stencil pattern that works great for nurseries and little girl’s rooms is the Deco Doily stencil from our Modern Options Stencil collection. This two layer stencil allows you to introduce a coordinating color for the background which really sets it off from the wall color.

The Floral Medallions stencil set is based on ancient Middle Eastern patterns, but it looks cool, fresh and contemporary in minty green and lilac colors. It’s very quick and easy to scatter stencil motifs like this around a room for a custom wallpaper effect.

The great thing about stencils is that you can completely change the look and feel of the designs simply by changing the colors. So, do you have some freshening up projects planned for this fall?

Well, it is just one month away today that my 4th and next Peacock Painting trip begins to lovely Peacock Pavilions in Marrakesh, Morocco. We have a fabulous  group going but there is still space and time available if you’d like to join us on October 1-11! You can find more trip and itinerary details here.

I’ve written about these trips about a million times, so you may know that I coordinate these painting adventures with the super chic and creative Maryam from My Marrakesh. Maryam has no limits to offering up great spaces to decorate with paint, or exotic inspiration to draw from. On past trips we’ve applied all sorts of inspired decoration to varying surfaces throughout Peacock Pavilions-a boutique hotel and retreat site just outside of Marrakesh.

There was an Art Deco Mural inspired by Rateau,

stair risers based on henna patterns,

ceiling patterns taken from inlaid camel bone furniture

and antique suzani fabrics. We’ve done lovely lace and typography floors,

and even an entertainment tent stenciled with Fez embroidery inspired patterns.

We have several projects planned for this next trip, the largest which will be another stenciled concrete floor with the look of patterned indigo fabric. The floor will be the base of a new, open air tent created for outdoor yoga practice and more.

As I begin to work on the designs, I thought I would share some of the inspiration I am working from: Nigerian resist-dyed indigo.

Resist techniques such as tie-dye, folded and stitched resist, wax batik and starch resist are common methods of surface decoration throughout the West African region, and the Yoruba of Nigeria are masters of the indigo-dying process. The two examples above are done with a starch-resist method, where the cloth is carefully folded and the intricate patterns hand drawn using starch made from cassava flour and sharpened quill from a large bird.

Stitched resist patterned are achieved also by folding the fabric, but raffia is used here to stitch the patterns into the cloth. When dipped,these areas resist the indigo dye, which is infused over multiple layers to achieve the rich inky blue/black color. The level of detail and intricate quality of this work is quite humbling for me as I attempt to interpret these into easily usable stencil designs! I am really looking forward to this, though, as I think that the concrete stained and painted floor that we create will be AMAZING!

Serendipitously, I just happened to stumble across this post on Indigo on a lovely blog called This is Love Forever, by super stylist Kayte Terry which featured the above fabric sample. One of the previous Peacock Painting trips caused me to design a whole collection of Moroccan stencils based on zelij tile patterns and this is one that we have called Large Moroccan Inlay. I think that doing this pattern in random sized dots would be be brilliant and pondering if this could be replicated on dark denim fabric using a bleach pen?!?! Hmmmm.

Just have to say it one more time guys….if you are interested in going on an amazing journey to Morocco with us, you can find more trip and itinerary details here.

Continuing a theme from last week, I have a few more Stencil Wall-ternatives to share today!

Amy from Playing Sublimely  is lucky enough to have a skilled carpenter husband! Who’s NOT jealous of that?!  He created a custom built-in cabinet at the end of a hallway which Amy promptly painted with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint.

Not happy with her first try, she tried, tried again, this time opting for a more classic paint treatment and the decidedly “un”classic and ultimately COOL look of stenciling our Zebra Stripe stencil pattern on the back to show off her pretty white dishes. Check out this post also by Amy to see some more Royal Design Studio stencils used on her walls. I’m sure you’ll find her home dreamy and inspirational-especially if you like formal, classic design.

Back to the floor, here is another fun stenciled sisal rug project from Tam at Sew Dang Cute. A project like this is super fast, easy, and economical. Sometimes it’s the little details that add so much!

Royal Design Studio and Modello Designs customer Terry Leibenguth recently sent in some photos of a stenciled ceiling project that I just love!  This one features our ever lovely Allover Flourish stencil on the ceiing of a powder bath.

Check out the added bling Terry added with glitter and crystals.

Crystal embellishments to stenciling has become increasingly popular, and I think that Terry added just the right amount to accent the stencil pattern and tie it in to the lovely light fixtures.

We love to share our customer’s stencil projects. They inspire us and hopefully inspire you too! If you have a stencil project yould like to share and share alike, please send appropriate photos to melanie@royaldesignstudio.com.

Stenciling walls with allover patterns to create a wallpaper effect  is “all the rage” this season, and all I can say about that is……YEAH! I started creating damask-inspired allover stencils for Royal Design Studio back in the last century (gulp!) and it’s great to still be seeing both our classic and modern stencil designs being put to good use all over the web these days. Stencils, of course, are the ultimate decorating tool for adding personalized pattern to MANY different surfaces, though, and I’m super thrilled to be able to share some wall-ternative ideas with you here. It’s very rewarding to see our creative blogging friends mixing it up with these fab how-to-stencil projects. Even greater is how they take care to share with their readers how to achieve these looks. Case(s) in point:

This sisal rug stenciling post by uber-talented Marian on Miss Mustard Seed. She used our sweet and simple Daisy Chain border stencil on the BACK of an inexpensive rug.

Stenciling on a ceiling is a great wall-ternative! Yes, yes, it’s a bit more challenging when you have your hands over head, BUT the end results are dramatic, unexpected, and amazing! Chelsy shares her and her hubby’s adventures in  how to stencil a ceiling on  B  Couture Photography using our modern Linked In stencil.

Interested in a smaller project perhaps? Hani at Craftionary shares how to make a stenciled magnetic photo board with our lovely Encantada Damask stencil.

Have you noticed how custom window treatments are SO expensive? Have you ever thought of stenciling your own inexpensive fabric and creating a completely custom treatment? Yeah, me neither, but check out this easy stenciled faux Roman Shade by Jennifer at Tatertots and Jello (cutest blog name award!) using our Chain Link stencil pattern, and you WILL be inspired!

Would you like to see MORE wall-ternatives? Just so happens I have a few more up my sleeve for the next post….:)

Guess who’s going to be talking design and stencils on Design Talk Radio THIS Wednesday at 2pm EST/ 11am PST??

Did you guess?? Yes, I will be chatting about stencils and decorative painting “live” with Carrie for about an hour. If you miss it or want to tune in later while enjoying a glass of wine or coffee (you get to pick your poison!) there will be a recording available. Hope you can check it out either way!

The International Decorative Artisans League Convention was quite a success! Attendance was somewhat low, with just over 200 artisans attending, but with a renewed interest in stencils we had a busy booth and I was thrilled that both my classes were sold out! Before too much time goes by (just where DOES that time go?) Iwanted to share a bit of the action….

In addition to my classes and booth, I was asked to do some demos on the trade show floor. I came up with a couple of new concepts that I thought would be fun to share: a crackled Greek goddess on patinated gold leaf and a colorful paisley pattern done with metallic foils. Both of these were done using some new Modello masking stencil patterns that we’ve just added.

Unfortunately, with all that was going on I never DID get to the large Greek panel I had planned, which will have to wait for another day, but I did manage to finish the large paisley canvas which I just love!

I am loving the large scale of this and think it would be ab fab done as a headboard or across a tri-panel floor screen, or ????

Walking around the trade show floor, it was very exciting to see my Royal Design Stencil and Modello masking stencil patterns used abundantly in other booths.

Artist David Lusk had a particularly elegant display in Golden’s Proceed booth!

Michelle Delgado, of Wonderfaux Studios had a super cool rusted plaster sample using our Grand Damask stencil.

My faux buddies Krista Vind and Cindy Everett filled their The Studio Destin booth with iCoat floor and countertop finishes featuring our Modello stencil patterns and also had lots of stencil samples showing for their wall and cabinetry classes. This tabletop was a huge hit!

Besides the trade show, we were well represented in the classrooms as well! Lottie Banner and Micki Coles used a variety of Royal Design Studio stencils in their “Cracked Up” class.

If all these fabulously inspiring photos are making you sorry you missed the International Decorative Artisan’s League Convention, fear not! There is always next year…..July 2012 in Reno, NV.