KELLY WEARSTLER DIY GRAFFITO WALL

Hey guys!!! First off - thank you SO, SO much on all the love for the guest bedroom reveal as part of the One Room Challenge!! It never fails to amaze me how much love, support and encouragement exist in this design community! Truly! So thankful I am not the only person obsessed with decor, furniture, CHAIRS, the real housewives of NY, tacos, cats, and all that good stuff! We're totally normal, right? Birds of a feather y'all, birds of a feather.

I've been getting lots of questions on the Kelly Wreastler Graffito Wall DIY and wanted to explain as best as I could, some of the process. This is not a tutorial because A) it was a wing it project and B) I couldn't stop in the process of doing it to take notes for fear of losing my momentum. I'm obsessive that way and I knew a break would throw me off, so I decided not to stop until I was completely done. A lot of people actually think its wallpaper, so that's cool to know that I did a good enough job that it looks that way. However, since we are in a rental, I'm not allowed to do certain things- putting up wallpaper is one of them, otherwise I would have GLADLY done that, believe me.

For this project, the first thing I did was research and examine images of the pattern used as wallpaper and fabric. The thing I was most concerned with was scale. The pattern over all is very large, and it looks different on a small pillow vs. lets say a whole wall.






I knew I wanted my scale to be somewhat the same scale as the look of the wallpaper or possibly a little bigger. I wanted it to stand out from the walls with all the furnishings, but not get lost with them. To help me visualize the scale of the pattern with the furniture in the room, I used my handy dandy olioboard (favorite thing ever) to make a room board. I overlapped the pattern, resized it, and somehow came out with this, which was good enough for me to get to work.


I kept this board open on my laptop, and also an image of the pattern on my phone for reference and in 10 minutes, I had this.


I hated it. The scale was way too small. I didn't like how it was coming out, and it just wasn't what I was picturing in my head. I painted over it right away and felt like an utter failure. Cue the pity party. Mind you, this was at like 1 AM because I'm a crazy person, duh. While I was waiting for the paint to dry and berating myself for being a loser, I suddenly remembered I have balls. Big balls. Balls of Steel. Balls on Balls on Balls! 




I was acting like a little bitch, and I needed to remember the determined, independent, crazy bitch that I actually am- who when she puts her mind to something- its game over. I'm so stubborn and determined that when I have a goal, I always accomplish it. So that's what I did- I took my sharpie markers, put on some Dr. Dre and went H.A.M on these walls. This time I took a different approach. I tried sketching with a pencil first, but that wasn't working for me. It was messing up my flow. So I did what I do best- I winged it. I free styled this M.F. like Tupac and Biggie did with Funk Flex at the tunnel (CLASSIC).

Large Scale First

The difference in this approach was picturing the pattern in a super large scale in my head, and letting my hand draw it out evenly on the walls. I did those huge parts first, played with the spacing and the angles. After I did the super large scale on each wall, then I went in and filled it in with the smaller bits. I also varied the size and thickness of the lines to give the pattern some depth. 

Filled in after

Is it exactly like Kelly's Graffito?? Not really, but its exactly what I wanted. And for the cost of 3 sharpie pens, and minor carpal tunnel, it was worth it. WAYYYYYYY worth it.





I got as much encouragement to go through with this DIY, as I did the questioning bitch you crazy looks. And that's totally cool. I enjoy the exchange of ideas, and people are not always going to agree on design choices. Its all subjective. My point is- do what the fuck you want, because you have to like it, nobody else. Different strokes for different folks. If you have a vision, stick to your guns and make that shit happen. Preferably not at 1 AM for 10 hours straight. But if you do, here's some motivation to get you in the right mood to kill that shit, courtesy of the best rappers who ever did it.



-Nan



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