Stripe it rich

I've been wanting to paint the guest room upstairs for quite a while now.
I had an idea that striped walls might be nice, I'd always wanted to try this technique but never had the guts to do it.
I knew that one whole gallon of paint was not enough to cover all the walls and ceiling; I remembered this from the last time I painted that room (probably15 years ago!). I also had almost a full can of paint leftover from having recently painted the master bath downstairs. Perfect. I knew I had the paint and just the right amount...but would the color work? It's a gray-green with a hint of blue in it. That room's walls were a very pale blue. I decided to go for it. What the hell, if it didn't work out I could just paint over the whole thing.
Well, it turned out really nice I think. Very happy with the paint color combo. I don't know if I would have ever planned these colors in advance but that's serendipity, right?
As for the process of creating the stripes it's all about the tape.
I highly recommend 3M's ScotchBlue painter's tape. It a little pricier than the other brands but it's worth it. If you use it correctly the paint lines come out virtually perfect.
The second most important thing is to measure, measure again, and keep measuring. Believe me, any slight variation in pattern of the stripes and you see it standing out like a sore thumb. It's also a good idea to use a level constantly to double check yourself even more.
The taping takes forever but the painting step goes very quickly. And you should remove the tape while the paint is just beginning to dry, you don't want to pull the tape when it's completely dry, it'll cause boo-boos. And the pulling of the tape is the fun part...it's the reveal of all that hard prep work and it's like magic to see the pattern reveal itself right before your eyes. A very satisfying feeling.
I only had one problem. Because the pale blue paint that was on the walls was so old and aged, the tape pulled it up in a few places to reveal patches of the light brown dry wall. There's nothing I can do about those spots because I didn't have any of the old paint for touch-ups. I've decided that it gives the room a little bit of an aged look, I'm calling it the "Miss Havisham" bedroom. How's that for rationalization? Of course I could try to match the paint at the paint store--and I still may--but it's fine for now.
Here's a series of pics showing the 'before' and 'after' and the stages in between...

BEFORE: a little boring, no oomph

The window wall 'before'

The wall fully taped

Taped and stripes painted

One wall done

AFTER: Panorama of full room completed; the stripes pull everything together

I think the stripe bring a cohesiveness to the room that wasn't there before, it was just a repository for a bunch of mismatched furniture. Now it feels 'whole' and very cozy. I sent a picture of it to my friend  Jim who gave it the thumbs up, "It's very Elsie DeWolfe goes to the country" he said. I'll take that.

I also bought a new set of sheets for the new room, a set of dark navy with small white dots in a random pattern (hard to see in this photo). I think the darker color adds a much-needed dose of testosterone to a room that's teetering on the twee side. It also works well with the darker furniture pieces. I got the sheets at TJMaxx, my favorite place for bedding...I will never pay department store prices for linens. Ever.

New navy Nicole Miller sheets