How to Transform a Washer/Dryer with Stencils

An Unconventional Stencil Project that Works!

Hello there my little DIY lovers! As the holidays quickly approach, I hope you are remaining somewhat stress free! If not, let Cutting Edge Stencils refocus you’re attention to all that’s peaceful in the world by indulging you in what we like to call a little craft yoga! Don’t worry; no exercise involved! Just grab a mimosa, cuddle up in a blanket in front of the fire place and let us pump some inspiration into your veins! You’re not going to want to miss this stencil project!

Today we will be discussing how our daring friend Abigail, at the blog 5 Days 5 Ways, stenciled her washer and dyer! If this doesn’t sound like your cup of tea, well forget the tea, you’re drinking mimosas! Just make sure to drink slowly and pay attention!

Abigail started off with a mismatching washer and dryer set. The washer was a refurbished machine and black as night. The dryer was brand spanking new and white as snow. What Abigail truly desired was a a colored washer and dryer but the prices of those made her head spin! So artsy Abigail decided to paint the set of machines using Cutting Edge Stencils Polka Dot Allover Stencil, and she couldn’t be happier with the results! Let’s take a look at her makeover process!

First Abigail primed her black washing machine with some oil-based Kilz primer! Over that, she painted three coats of a fun and funky teal color paint called Virtue by Dutch Boy onto the washer. The teal paint wasn’t enough for this DIY diva, though. She saw polka dots as a way to pull together the washer and dryer by inverting the colors of their spots! Since the dryer is white, the polka dots of the washer were stenciled using Dover White Sherwin Williams paint. Since the washer was painted teal, the polka dots of the dryer were stenciled with the same Virtue Dutch Boy teal paint. Get it? I told you to drink slow! (BTW both colors of paint were regular latex with an eggshell finish!)

Let’s dig a little deeper into Abigail’s stenciling process! She stenciled the washer first using a dense foam roller and painters tape to create those delightful dots. Abigail taped the stencil design to the side of the washer, and stenciled that portion first. She checked that her dense foam roller almost seemed dry before painting the stencil with it (making sure to roll off excess paint on a paper towel first). The side panel only took this first time DIY stenciler 20 minutes! The front of the machine was painted next, taking only 15 minutes to stencil!

Painting on those perfect dots to the dryer was a bit trickier, so let me break it down in steps for you! (maybe you should stop drinking!)

1. The base of the dryer was already white (as desired), so Abigail didn’t have to prime the whole thing.

2. Instead, she stenciled the polka dots with the primer first, to make sure the teal paint would stay.

3. Then she realigned the stencil to match up with the primed dots.

4. She painted the teal dots over the primed dots with her foam roller.

5. Abigail touched up the teal dots using a stencil brush to make them darker and and sharper.

OOOOOKAY. I hope you haven’t passed out by now! But, if you’d like to find out more about interesting craft projects, don’t forget to read our blog, follow us on facebook, and get some paint color inspiration from Benjamin Moore Color Stories!

Thanks for reading, and happy stenciling!
Melissa and the Cutting Edge Stencils Crew