Additional materials
• three colors of paint (Samios used two shades of blue and a complementary ivory)• three 9-inch rollers
• 1½-inch-wide masking tape
1. Use one roller to paint the wall the lightest color; let dry.
2. When base coat is dry, use the width of the level to trace a line around doorways. Use a brush to paint this area the darkest color to create the illusion of a molding. Use the level to sketch a line where the top of your wainscoting will be. Any point near the middle of the wall is fine; the wainscoting in the photo below is 47 inches from the floor.
3. Starting 1½ inches from one end, divide two rollers into alternating bands of taped and untaped sections of equal widths. Secure tape as tightly as possible.
4. Using a wrapped roller and the darkest color, paint vertical lines beginning at one doorway. To maintain proper spacing, let one saturated section of the roller overlap the molding band, and for each successive set of lines, paint one line overlapping the previous one. Continue to the other doorway or the end of the wall.
5. Using the third color and a wrapped roller, paint stripes between the darker ones. It's okay to have rough lines.
6. When finished with the stripes, use the width of the level to mark guidelines to paint a false baseboard and top molding. Fill using a brush and the darkest paint color.
