Personalize a room with a hand-lettered border of your favorite quotations. The border can be painted on the wood trim, as depicted here, on the wall itself or on a blank wallpaper border. DIY Decorating & Design host Nancy Golden explains how. Materials:
Lettered quote or saying
Wax-free transfer paper
Painter's tape
Pencil
Acrylic craft paint in charcoal gray
Artist's brush (chisel-head lettering brush or a round detail brush)
Optional: acrylic craft paint in metallic gold and fine detail brush
- Choose a nicely lettered quote or saying, and enlarge the image on a copy machine or a computer (figure A). The lettering should be enlarged to a scale appropriate to your wall. A 6" border is about right for an 8' wall.
- Wax-free transfer paper is used to copy the image to the wall. Put a layer of transfer paper under the wording, and attach it to the wall with painter's tape. Trace over the printed words with a pencil to transfer the saying to the wall below (figure B), then remove the transfer paper.
- Letter the words with acrylic paint and an artist's brush (figure C). Nancy chose charcoal-gray paint thinned with a little water and used a chisel-head lettering brush to create the look of calligraphy. Use a round detail brush if you'd rather outline the letters in paint, then fill them in.
- If desired, outline the lettering in metallic gold paint, using a fine brush. A metallic gold marker would also work.
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