We had some fun with the walls in our back-to-school desks story in the September issue (making its way to newsstands and mailboxes now!). To achieve these looks in your own home, follow the how-to instructions below.
 
To create the silhouette storage display shown on page 104, first gather all the tools that you would like to include--items with holes or open areas that they can hang from will work best--then follow these steps:
 
1.     Trace the items on adhesive shelf liner (found at any hardware or homegoods store for about $4) with a permanent marker. Cut out the shapes with scissors. Use an Exacto knife to cut out interior openings.

2.     Using blue painters' tape, mark off a large rectangle on the wall. For best results, use a yardstick and level to draw straight lines with a pencil, and then put up tape along those lines.

3.     Hang your cutouts within the rectangle using small pieces of tape to find the best arrangement. Once you are happy with the configuration, peel the backing off the cut outs and stick them to the wall. Burnish with your fingernail so that the edges adhere well to the wall.

4.     Apply two to three coats of paint with a paint roller, using only medium pressure so that the cutouts don't move.

5.     Once the paint is dry, remove the cutouts and tape. You may need to do touch-ups using the original wall color.

6.     For each tool, hold up the item to the wall and figure out where it will hang from. Mark the spot with a pencil and use a hammer to insert a small nail.

The chevron pattern painted on the wall on page 107 is not hard to pull off with some careful planning (a level, a yardstick, and a T-square would be helpful to have on hand). We used three shades of green paint and one bright yellow shade, but you can draw color inspiration from the room you’re working in.  

1.    A chair rail creates a natural upper border, but if you don’t have one just trace a level line at the height where you would like your pattern to stop, and tape it off with painters' tape.

2.    Next, trace vertical lines in pencil from the baseboard to upper border, spaced one foot apart along the wall.

3.    Cut the shape of a parallelogram out of cardboard to use as a tracing template. The short sides can be 5 inches or more (the wider you go, the less taping and painting you will do later on) and the long sides should be about 15 inches. (See diagram below.)



4.    Using your cardboard template, trace the chevron pattern in pencil, stopping at your top and bottom borders.

5.    Using painters tape, tape off alternating sections within the design.

6.    Paint the sections you have taped by randomly selecting from your paint palette. The less you think about which colors to use where, the better the overall effect will be when you’re done. Apply two or three coats, brushing away from the tape so paint does not seep under.

7.    Once the paint has dried, remove the first round of tape and start again, taping off the remaining sections. Continue painting, and feel free to leave some sections unpainted, as we did here (where you see white).

8.    Once all paint has dried, gently remove the tape, taking care not to pull of the paint beneath.  Erase any visible pencil marks.