Dress Up A Boring Bathroom Wall With A Beginner-Friendly Paint DIY

Unexpected wall art is happening in 2025. Making appearances are unique frames, bold colors, and layered gallery walls. A wall painting made to look like part of a framed art piece will fit in nicely in any bathroom. That could sound intimidating, but a painting with a striped background that looks like it's part of a wall hanging is simple enough to pull off. This uncomplicated project is perfect for those narrow wall sections often found in bathrooms, but nothing's stopping you from taking this idea into any other room. It's also a great way to get extra use out of frames that have lost their glass.

Surrounded by an empty picture frame, stripes painted directly on the wall in two different colors give off the look of a unified piece of wall art. Once you've hung the frame, adding a smaller item on a hook or nail on top of the painted surface creates a three-dimensional layered effect. This sort of "outlining" gives small items more of an impact. It also makes trading out artwork a breeze; swap out the featured artwork for the seasons, a battery-operated sconce, or even a wall vase that instantly turns flowers into a beautiful masterpiece once it's set against alternating bands of color.

Besides a roll of painter's tape and an empty frame, you'll also need a level, a measuring tape, a pencil, and painting supplies. For bathroom walls, it's wise to pick out paint that's formulated to withstand lots of moisture. Acrylics are a great choice since they also clean up easily. If you have a few cans of spray paint with just enough juice for a small project, this is a smart way to use them up, as well.

Place your frame where you'd like to paint, and set a level on top to make sure your background will be level with the floor. Trace the inside edges of the frame with a pencil, and tape off the outside edges of the tracing. If you're painting with a brush or roller, tape a section of newspaper along the lowest edge of the tracing in order to catch drips. If you're spray painting, tape newspaper sections or even repurposed pet food bags to the wall around the tracing and lay a drop cloth on the floor below. This precaution can help eliminate extra cleanup or the need to touch up paint on the wall surrounding your creation. Next, apply a uniform coat or two of one of the paint colors, and let it dry fully.

Arrange parallel rows of painter's tape over the painted area. You can use a tape measure to create even spacing. Better yet, a speed square will help you both measure spacing and ensure that you're applying the tape at 90-degree angles over the painted background. The width of your stripes is entirely up to you. Space them evenly or mix up the distribution. You could also arrange the stripes in a pattern like three thinner stripes next to a thick background stripe.

The possibilities for the background painting are endless. Stripes are classic, but simply tilting them into diagonal lines ups the quirkiness factor substantially. If you're itching to try a geometric accent wall but are wary of commitment, tape up the makings of an abstract web with intersecting lines. If you don't like it, it's quick to fix and won't cost you a lot of money or time. Or, forget lines and opt instead for a multipurpose wall adornment. Make this project into a functional message board with a few coats of chalkboard paint before topping the spot with an empty frame. Once you've mounted your frame around the paint job, tack a small nail where you want to hang your additional piece of art. Or, make this inner space more adaptable by hanging a damage-free adhesive hook that you can reposition to accommodate feature art of varying sizes.