How to Paint a Striped Wall Scotch Blue vs. Frog Tape

Painting a striped wall is easy and can add a big bang to a room for little money. I’m going to show you how to make sure it’s level and what painters tape I feel is the best to use for less mess and touch ups.How to paint stripes on a wall with less drips and get them level

Paint the base coat on your walls and I recommend waiting at least 24 hours before you paint your stripes so the base coat doesn’t peel when you apply your tape. There are 2 ways to make sure you paint level stripes, one is with a laser level as you see below. The other is by measuring down from your ceiling with a yardstick around the room. As you can see here I used a laser level and put the tape along the line. The good thing with laser level is that you can see the laser going around a corner so taping is much faster.How to paint stripes on a wall with less drips and get them level

To paint stripes on the wall, I left 6 inches between the tape lines. Before you start painting use a plastic scraper or putty knife to run along the tape lines. This will  make sure there are no bubbles or pockets for our paint to drip into.How to paint stripes on a wall with less drips and get them level
You are ready to paint your lines and there is a proper way to do this. The first step is to  paint horizontaly along your tape lines this will help seal the tape line to prevent dripping. Just ignore the fact that I bought the wrong size roller but it worked just fine.How to paint stripes on a wall with less drips and get them level
Next paint vertically between the lines to fill them in. Paint two coats so your stripe is solid. I used Valspar Paint and Primer in one from Lowe’s, it’s low oder and no VOC’s. How to paint stripes on a wall with less drips and get them level
When you are done pull the tape off immediately do not wait for the paint to dry or it may peel your paint off. To prevent drips that may be from escess on yoru tape pull the tape toward the paint line as shown in the bottom picture below. Pulling away from the tape may peel some off and cause drips.The right way vs. The wrong way to pull off painters tape to prevent drips and peeling
Next I painted a smaller line of dark grey on top to tie it in with the painted fan and curatins. For this I decided to use Scotch Brand tape with Edge lock because of the width and at the time my hardware store did not carry frog tape in the right width. It allowed me to just tape along the top of the red stripe using it as a guide instead of using the laser level. This made a 3rd stripe of the base color between my two stripes.How to paint stripes on a wall with less drips and get them level
I made the red stripe six inches and the dark grey line was one and a half inches.Paint using the same paint procedure as above. Once I pulled off the blue tape I knew it was a mistake. This is the reason I will only use Frog Tape in the future!Wonder which is better, Scotch Blue with Edge Lock or Frog Tape? Here's the results
 Scotch Blue has always been an industry standard but I was stunned at the difference in how clean the lines were with the Frog Tape. I had to tediously go along the dark grey line with a small paintbrush and touch up the dark grey lines, luckily I have a steady hand to do so which was more than frustrating. I declare Frog Tape is the clear winner and time saver when painting!
How to stripe and wall and keep it level around your room
 If you’d like to see how the rest of the room turned out and how I painted other accessories to match check out the final room reveal.
How to paint accessories, ceiling fans, curtains and walls to create a themed room for tweens

14 Responses

  1. The photo looks fake to me. Bright white line next to the red
    1. I'm sorry you feel that way it's actually light grey. Might be the flash from the camera??
  2. Stacey Meyer says:
    Wonderful tutorial, Kelly. Thank you so much. I've looked at several websites for info on painting lines and yours was the most thorough. I especially appreciated the information on waiting at least 24 hours from painting your base color before applying tape. I painted my main color yesterday and was all excited to paint my stripes today but given this advice, I'll wait. Happy blogging!
    1. Oh thank you so much! You'll have to message me a picture on facebook so I can see it!
  3. shirley tyson says:
    Would like to ask a question. My walls have a thick texture in places all over my walls. I would like to make a couple of stripes like you did but some where on DIY I read about applying something ( I think it was silicone) before taping. Otherwise there would be a not so perfect stripe line. Do you recall ever hearing of this. Thanks in advance for any info. Loved your sons room. Looked very professional . Loved the window covering. PERFECT!
    1. Hi Shirley, thank you and Frog Tape actually makes a tape for textured walls which would be perfect for you to use!
  4. Sarah JeTt says:
    Scotch has always worked best for us! Maybe it depends on what kind of paint you are using.
  5. steffanie says:
    I find that it doesn't matter what tape I use if the first coat that I paint on the edges of the tape is the original wall color, that locks the edge in place and the next coat is fabulous. :)
  6. We found skinny frog tape at Menards for pretty cheap. Thanks for the post!
    1. Kelley Wilson says:
      Thanks for the tip Valerie!
  7. I've always had better luck with Scotch tapes. You must have done something wrong, like not pressing the edges down. Frog is overpriced junk in my opinion.
    1. Kelley Wilson says:
      I am glad you shared your opinion but if you notice I make the comment that you need to go over the edges. I did so with a plastic scraper, in addition I painted along the tape line first as recommended by Scotch. I did the same process with the frog and these were my results. I have used Scotch for years and have always had issues with drips but I am glad that you have had such luck with it.
  8. Anonymous says:
    Home improvement stores and Sherwin Williams stores carry Frog Tape but I've always had better luck at Sherwin Williams. Also, there's a yellow Frog Tape that's for delicate surfaces that works great too! I prefer it.
  9. Laila @OnlyLaila says:
    This was so helpful! I plan to update my son's room and have never used frog tape.

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