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Monday, August 5, 2013

Starry Ceiling Tutorial

When I started designing Eli's nursery I stumbled upon this
wallpaper by Osborne and Little called Coronata Star.
I fell in love with it and new I wanted to achieve the same look on Eli's ceiling.

Here's what you need:
                           - Light blue/aqua paint- mine was a mis tint I picked up for $3
                           - Painting supplies
                           - Chalk line reel with dustable chalk
                           - A ruler to measure out your ceiling grid
                           - Silver vinyl- I used THIS one
                           - A Cricut (or Silhouette machine)
                           - The Cricut George cartridge 
                             (the standard cartridge that comes with the Cricut)
                           - A ladder or step stool 
                           - A rag to dust off your chalk line grid once complete
                           - And a patient assistant!

Eli's ceiling started off looking like this
FIRST
 measure your ceiling, have someone help to get an exact measurement.
I did it on my own and had to fudge my numbers later because of it.
Then decide how far apart you want your stars. 
My ceiling was about 144" by 144" 
I didn't want to deal with measuring partial inches so I decided 
I would do my grid every 9 inches to make it even.
That means I would have 16 lines vertical and 16 lines horizontal to
make up my ceiling grid. Multiply those (16x16) and divide by 2 and that means 
I needed 128 stars for my ceiling. 

 Once you have your math out of the way get painting!
While your ceiling is drying you can cut out your stars using your Cricut.
I used the sun shape but did the shadow, and set my scale at 2.5 inches.
I was able to fit 8 stars on each 6" by 12" piece of vinyl.
I did this one night while while watching TV and it took about 2 hours
Once my ceiling was dry I measured out every 9 inches around my ceiling.
Here's where your patient assistant comes in!
Using your chalk line reel, make a grid on your ceiling.
This part is time consuming, but it makes sure that your pattern stays straight.

Once your grid is up you can start putting up your stars
This is when it starts to come together!
Only put stars on every other line intersection so you get an alternating 
pattern like so:
 Once your stars are all in place take a rag and dust off your chalk line.
Then lay down on the floor and admire your hard work!

This project was time consuming but it was pretty easy and inexpensive.
And the results are so worth it!

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