How to Stencil a Ceiling: A Mini Bathroom Makeover

It’s time for June’s Monthly DIY Challenge! Woot woot! I really love these monthly posts – they are some of my faves!  In case you’re new, here’s the 411: on the 2nd Wednesday of every month, me and my crazy talented blog friends make something based on a common theme and/or material. Here are some of my fave past challenge project materials: Michaels crates, plumbing pieces, balsa wood/craft plywood, cork, canvas, Modern Masters Metal Effects kits and air dry clay. This month we are working with a really awesome sponsor: Royal Design Studio and their awesome stencils! *Be sure to stick around to the end of the post so you can see all of my friends’ amazing and interesting projects!*

This post was sponsored by Royal Design Studios and all of us received compensation for this project. However, all opinions, ideas, and photos/wording are my own!

I’m not going to lie to you guys. I’m not a master stenciler. In fact, I’ve barely ever stenciled anything in my life, and when I have, the results are generally disasterous. However, when we got a chance to work with Royal Design Studio I was excited to jump at the chance to try my hand at stenciling once more. Considering that most of the walls in my house are covered with either beadboard, board and batten, or Stikwood, that didn’t leave me a lot of free space in which to stencil. So I looked up and found my inspiration – on the ceiling!

Our guest bathroom was pretty dismal. It was sort of the dumping ground for random art projects I had made, mismatched linens and generally all the second hand bathroom stuff that didn’t really fit anywhere else. The result was a very hodgepodge, disorganized, and slightly alarming place.

For some reason there weren’t cabinet doors underneath, so everyone could see the litter box and the plumbing in all their glory. The beadboard was scuffed and dirty. And one of the worst parts? The ceiling. The previous home owners had decided to paint it a spongey baby blue color. Very uneven in application with careless mistakes and streaks onto the trim of the beadboard below. Blech.

Let’s take a few more seconds to glance at horrible this bathroom was:

Nope. No thank you. I just couldn’t stand it anymore. So I decided to stage a mini bathroom makeover to correspond with my Royal Design Studio project. Now for my stencil, I chose this gorgeous Moroccan geometry style star pattern:

It came with a set of instructions, a pamphlet with some extra tips, a border piece for easily stenciling to the edges, and even included a little free rosette stencil just for fun!

How to Stencil a Ceiling: Materials

• stencil
• paint in your color choice
• foam pouncer brushes and foam stencil roller
• paint tray/small dish
• paper towels
• painter’s tape
• repositionable spray adhesive

If you plan on stenciling a ceiling, you reaaaalllyyy need to make sure that your stencil will stick well to the ceiling so you can get nice crisp lines. Spray the back of your stencil and border piece with repositionable spray adhesive and let set until tacky, which only takes a couple of minutes

Apply painter’s tape to the edges of your stencil, pick a starting place on edge of the ceiling somewhere close to center and press that stencil up there good!

I found that using a foam stencil roller was the easiest/quickest way to apply paint to the stencil. Simply roll your roller in some paint, and then *crucial step* roll your foam roller across some paper towels a few times to get rid of excess paint. If you have too much on your roller, it will bleed underneath your stencil.

If your paint isn’t as thick as you would like, simply repeat the process, or you can use a pouncer to fill in uneven spots. Then just move the stencil and keep going! Make sure to apply more spray adhesive if needed. Royal Design Studio stencils have helpful little guide marks so you can line up your next stencil just perfectly!

Since my bathroom is itty bitty, I decided to not cover the entire ceiling, because I felt it would feel too busy or close in the space. So I went for a more free-form shape, and made it look as if the design was blooming out of the mirror and leading into the shower. I think it’s pretty cool!

After that, it was just a matter of taking out all the junk, cleaning stuff up, and adding some new pretty decor! I like to call this space Modern Moroccan 🙂

Ahh, so much cleaner/prettier/better/less horrifying, isn’t it? Let’s take a closer look at some of the elements, including my awesome new stenciled ceiling!

I’m SO glad I decided to only stencil part of the ceiling – the end result is a fun modern look that isn’t too overwhelming. I took the stenciled ceiling as my jumping off point for decor inspiration, so I looked for pieces in black/gray/white that had a geometric feel to them, like my awesome concrete soap dispenser and helpful basket for guest necessities.

Do you spy last month’s DIY chalenge? It’s my little air dry clay ring holder! It just fit perfectly in this space. I kept decor and art simple, to cut on clutter and not overwhelm the tiny bathroom, so I stuck to some candles, one art piece I got from Ecuador, and a gold letter ‘S’.

This bathroom just feels so much brighter and cleaner. I used an expandable shower rod and a reconfigured shower curtain to cover up underneath the sink – no more view of the litter box!

I love how the stencil sort of winds and leads it’s way in to the shower. The black shower curtain is nice and clean without being too overbearing and ties in nicely with the pattern on the floor.

I just love accessorizing!

Thank you for scrolling allll the way through my photo explosion! I know it was lot 😉 But for good measure, let’s take a look at a few befores and afters, shall we?

Phew! Now that you’ve seen my Royal Design Studio project and learned how to stencil a ceiling, check out all of my friends’ fabulous stencil projects! SO many unique and creative ideas 🙂 Simply click on a photo below to be taken to each post!

Have you ever stenciled anything before? What do you think of my stenciled ceiling?