How to paint your deck with a stencil

You will need

• Stencil
• Laser level or measuring tape
• Resene testpot in your choice of colour; Fleur used Resene Zeus
• Painters tape
• Small piece of sponge
• Plate, scrap cardboard or flat surface for dabbing the sponge on

Instructions

Step 1:  Either purchase a stencil online or you can make your own. You can make your own by choosing a stencil pattern you like on the Internet, enlarging it to fit the dimensions of the area you want to stencil, and printing it out on to card. Tape multiple printouts together to get the stencil to the correct size, then cut it out using a craft knife. The advantage of making your own stencil is that you can size it to the dimensions of your area and therefore the number of repeats will fit your space.

Step 2:  Using a laser level or measuring tape, make vertical lines to mark where the stencil repeats will go. This will help keep your stencil straight and aligned.

Step 3:  Position your stencil at one end of the area you are going to stencil and hold it in place with painters’ tape. It’s best to start a full stencil repeat in an area that you are going to see the most.

Step 4:  Using a small piece of sponge, dip it into your chosen Resene paint colour and then dab it on to a plate or piece or scrap cardboard to ensure that you get a thin and even coverage of paint on the sponge. Too much paint on the sponge will cause bleed-through on the underside of the stencil.

Step 5:  Dab the sponge on to the opening holes of the stencil and move it using a circular motion so that paint gets into all the tight corners. Don’t do this too vigorously as bleed-through can occur. Do this all over the stencil until it is all painted in.

Step 6:  Carefully remove the stencil by peeling it off – do not slide it as this will smudge the paint. The paint dries quickly and if you are careful not to move it too much, you should be able to re-position it straight away for the next repeat.

Repeat until the whole area is complete. Once the paint is dry, you can add vertical slats to givae it a panelled look.

Top tip: Choose a small selection of Resene testpot colours for a tone on tone stencilled effect.

Styling and images by Fleur Thorpe, 2020.