How to Paint an American Flag! EASY!

I was totally surprised at how easy this flag was to paint! I was dreading it for weeks, and as our 2017 American Heritage Homes Parade Home is approaching completion, I just went for it. I could have hired a professional painter to do this, but I wanted to use the extra money on some furniture splurges for this home so what the heck, thought I'd give it a try.

This bedroom is being staged as a little boys room with a Captain American theme. I'm going retro with some vintage accent pieces that's why I chose to do the flag and doors in the black and white.

I've painted stripes a ton, but never 13 stripes.....in black...on a textured wall...it could have been a disaster.

The base on this wall is Sherwin Williams Eider White. I love this white because it doesn't have any pink under tones, it has a slightly neutral warm under tone and I used it for the kids rooms and the master suite in this home. It's a really beautiful white for the perfect backdrop and your art and furniture will pop on it! For the stripes I used my favorite black, Kwal, Boundary.

To start, buy a crap load of supplies, frog tape, drop cloth, edger, foam brush, laser level, regular level, measuring tape, pencil and eraser, and make sure your roller size will fit within your stripe ;)

I found this awesome website for scaling the american flag. My wall wasn't a perfect rectangle, it was closer to a square so I just did the best I could. Here goes....

1. Start by measuring out your stripes. Take your wall height and divide, measure out and mark the entire wall for the 13 stripes. Scale your square, and start taping in the middle. (The trick to taping stripes is you go over, under, over, under on your marks, the thicker stripes are the ones you want to paint)

2. The stars, I did not paint these, they are decals!!! I bought these at Urban Walls which worked out perfectly because there are 50 stars in their pack and 39 colors to choose from. They were $39 and super easy to work with.

I did the perimeter stars first and didn't paint anything until I knew it would work out just in case I had to re tape something, fingers crossed. I tried measuring out all the stars first but it didn't work because it was too hard to take the space measurements and the star measurements. It was easier to figure out where the first line should go then measure from each star point to star point.

After I got the perimeter done I used the laser level to mark all the inside points and it went super fast!

3. My trick to the perfectly edged line. I take the wall color, which in this case was SW Eider White, and lightly paint all the edges inside the tape with a foam brush, pretty thin so it will dry fast. This way, if any of the paint seeps through, the original wall color seeps through first and voila! No blotches.....There will still be a few areas that seep through, especially if you have textured walls, but minimal and easy to touch up.

4. Paint 1st coat. Use an edger to do the ceiling and base lines as well as the outside edges of the stripes, Then take your roller and go for it.

5. Let the 1st coat dry a little. Then start the second coat.

6. And here is my 2nd trick to the perfectly edged line! You have to pull of the tape before the paint dries, not when its totally wet, but sticky! If you let it dry completely it can rip the paint off. I like to do the 2nd coat of paint on 2 or 3 stripes, then go back and take the tape off the top stripe.....paint another stripe....take another stripes tape off and so on.

7. Touch it up! Touch it up very carefully with a foam brush if needed.

I'm so happy with how this turned out and I can't wait to decorate the space!!! This is really the perfect backdrop for so many kids themes...avengers...sports...comic books....army....really anything!! 

A really easy focal point for under 100 bucks!!!!