Polka Dots are a creative idea for a child's or teenager's bedroom. There are two ways to do polka dots: 1. symmetrically or 2. randomly. We will look at how to polka dot a wall or room symmetrically in this article.
Polka dots are done by "stenciling" the dots on the wall using a measured grid. I recommend that you read the article on "stamping" which is a related technique for how to line up the prints (dots in this case) on the wall.
You can do your dots in all one size or use one size dots for one row and another size for another row. The dots can all be the same color, or you can alternate colors as in the below illustration.
Making a stencil
Your dots will be stenciled on the wall using a stencil of you own making. You may use thin cardboard for this such as the type of cardboard which you find on a manilla folder.
Draw your dot on the cardboard using a compass, and cut it out with scissors or an "exacto" type razor knife. Once you have your stencil made, you can waterproof it (to keep the cardboard from softening when wetted with latex paint) by spraying it with shellac ( you may find the areosol can version handy for this).
Rolling on your dots
Use a mini roller and handle with a foam roller cover to roll on your dots through your stencil. Tape your stencil to the wall in the proper alignment with easy release blue tape, and roll on the stencil keeping the stencil flush to the wall with one hand and rolling with the other.
Laying out the dots is everything with this.
There are two ways to layout the wall if you are doing symmetrical patterning: Method #1 is the easiest to do but you risk a mismatch at the end with this method which if located above a door should not be horribly noticeable and is no different than what you would have if you were hanging wallpaper.
1. Use the "wallpaper method" of starting in an inconspicuous corner above the entry door to the room ( see Faux Stripes ) you risk a mismatch using this method (you can't engineer the dots quite as easily as you can stripes because you have a diagonal pattern to maintain when doing dots or stamping). The wallpaper method is far simpler, all your sizes and spaces remain consistent with this method and you simply circle around the room.
2. You can "center" the dots on each wall. This requires a variable spacing between dots (dot size remains constant), depending on what will fit on the wall. If you don't know how to do this I apologize that I can't go into the explanation here because it will be too long of an explanation (it is a whole separate article by itself -I will create a link for this layout method later and insert it into this page once the article is completed).
You will need to establish what size and how far apart you want your dots to be. Once you have that established, you will need to layout your dots on the wall using a laser level or bubble level. The laser level will minimize any wall marking. If you do mark the wall use a pencil not a pen as ink will bleed through any latex paint applied over it.
Polka Dots
Decorative Wall Painting Technique
the polka dot wall
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