To Stencil or Not to Stencil? That Is The Question!

Family, friends, lovers of design and all things unique!  I need your help!

As you know, we're in the process of building a home.  A home that's been a dream for many years, and we're finally seeing it come to life.  All those years of dreaming has produced a lot of "must haves" and "really want" design features and decorating ideas.  Some that Travelin BRITS and I agree on, and some that we don't.  But we usually work it out either through compromise or completely different ideas all together.

Like many of you, I've gotten sucked in to the idea social media sites like Pinterest and Houzz.com, where I oooh, ahhh, and drool over so many incredible photos of amazing ideas in hundreds of categories.

One of my idea books or boards is of staircases that feature stenciling on the stair risers.  This idea just sends me into orbit with color and pattern choices almost limitless.  I really want to do this on the stairs in our house!!!!!!

The art of stenciling has been around for centuries, so it's nothing new to the art world, or to the design world.  But of late, it has seen a resurgence in home decorating because of the unique "handmade" quality it presents.

I recently became enamored with stenciling while following a blog that features a magnificent boutique hotel in Marrakesh, Morocco.  My Marrakesh is written by Maryam Montague, who has lived in Marrakesh with her family for almost 10 years.  Together with her architect husband, they designed and built the amazing Peacock Pavilions in a grove of olive trees.  She is the queen of shopping the souks of Marrakesh, and has a keen eye for the unique and an impeccable flair for decorating and design.  She's even written a book, Marrakesh by Design, that you can purchase here, here, or here.

In her quest for unique decorating techniques for Peacock Pavilions, she commissioned Melanie Royal of Royal Design Studio to help her with the designs of the stencils and the actual project.  The Peacock Painters, as they came to be known, did some amazing work and the final results are a sight to behold!   You can visit My Marrakesh here to see for yourself!  I'll be listening for your ooohs and aaahs!

While I can't commission Melanie Royal, I can purchase designs from her studio to help me with my project. The help I need from you is the push to make it happen or bring it to a screeching halt.  Travelin BRITS still has to agree(!) and give his blessing on the project.  Hopefully I can come up with an undeniable reason we should complement all our Moroccan treasures with these unique designs on our staircase.  And if we both end up hating it in the end, it's only paint and can be easily painted over.... right?

So.....what do you think?  And do I have any volunteers to come help??????

These are a few pins from my Pinterest board:

I absolutely LOVE this first one, but would prefer fewer patterns.




Very traditional Moroccan tile designs, that I absolutely love!




This one actually looks like wood inlay, but is really stencil.  Amazing, right?



Here, a photo of my staircase.  These are still the temporary construction stairs, but the view gives you an idea on how the stenciling would look from the front door entrance.  The stair case will curve from about the halfway point.

I got a piece of scrap plywood from the site today.  It's big enough to practice several color combinations, but I've only invested in one stencil for now.  I'll practice with it, until I've perfected the technique and narrowed down the colors.  I'm thinking of sticking with one color for the background of the riser and a tone or two darker for the stencil design.  This way the designs are there but they're not screaming at you the minute you walk through the door.

This is what I did tonight on gold/yellow poster board with warm brown paint.  These are the last 2 designs I did in a series of 5.  I got progressively better with the technique on each one.

I'm really excited about this project and can't wait to go to Lowe's in the morning to buy paint!!!!  :)

I ask for your honest opinions, suggestions, ideas both for the project AND for convincing Traveling BRITS that we just have to do this for our home!  

THANKS, Y'ALL!!!!