Hand-Painted Faux Wallpaper Using an AI Stencil
I LOVE this Sparrow Wallpaper by Rylee + Cru sold by Lulu and Georgia. It is beautiful, magical, whimsy, playful…I could go on.
If you love it and have the perfect space for it, I say go for it. I bet you won’t regret it. However, it’s a little out of my budget. And because I want it featured on my laundry room ceiling, there are several obstacles I must deal with like textured walls, multiple ceiling lights, exhaust fan, and awkward ceiling shape because of cabinetry… All things that would make installing wallpaper difficult. After much dreaming and searching the internet for an inexpensive do-able dupe, I decided to hand paint my own birds. Here’s how I did it.
I’ve linked the supplies I used for this project below. As an Amazon associate, if you buy through them, I may receive a small commission which helps support my DIY tutorials—thank you!
Make a Stencil
I wish I were more artistic and could free hand draw the birds. I lack that talent. Plus drawing on a ceiling just adds difficulty. So I asked AI to help.
I sent a picture of the wallpaper to AI and used this exact prompt: Make a printable Clipart image of the birds from this wallpaper that I can use as a cut out stencil so I can hand paint my ceiling.
I then copy-pasted those images into PowerPoint to play around with size. I selected 2 clusters of birds and made each cluster fit the size of a standard sheet of copy paper. Print!
With the help of a cutting board and a box cutter utility knife, I cut out the birds. Now I have my stencil!
Prep
Before stenciling, I decided to paint my ceiling with a matte finish in Behr Streetwise, a beautifully subtle, light blue. To stay cohesive with the golden-yellow dandelion print hanging in my laundry room, I picked two golden-yellow tones that also mimic the wallpaper I love. FolkArt matte paint’s consistency is perfect. It has good coverage and thick enough to not drip. I bought my paint at Hobby Lobby, but this FolkArt Acrylic set and this FolkArt Matte set are also good. You’ll also need a set of small paintbrushes.
Trace
I held the paper up to the ceiling and traced the inside of the bird shapes with a pencil. You don’t have to be perfect. It’s just to get a rough sketch of the bird shape and spacing. You can put as many or as few on the ceiling and walls as you like. They don’t have to be grouped like this. Use 1 bird outline to randomly fill in space however you like.
Paint
I painted my birds first with the goldenrod yellow color. Then went back and added the yellow ochre color for texture. For the beak and wings, I mixed the bark brown with the yellow ochre.
As you can see on my plate, I often mixed colors to add more variation to the birds coloring.
At this point, I loved the birds and couldn’t decide if I wanted to add the dotted lines or not. I was afraid it may be too busy for the space as I have a very patterned rug (that I also LOVE!). But when I think about the wallpaper and what draws me to it are those little, whimsical flight lines. I decided to use the darker blue paint I used on my trim <as seen here> for the dotted lines. It was fun painting the lines. Make them as curly, wavy and long as you want.
When you view the ceiling, you can’t see all the dotted lines for each grouping. It depends on the light and where you stand. However, that was the look I was going for. If you want to see them better, pick a darker color.
This diy faux-wallpaper mural has completely transformed my ceiling, and I love the whimsical touch it brings to the space. If you’re ready to try this at home, remember that you aren’t limited to yellow and blue color choices! Or even sparrows! Whether you go for sophisticated neutrals or a bold, eclectic mix of colors, you can easily personalize the birds to match your specific style. Let your creativity shine. 🙂
