How to Figure Out How Many Stripes Are Needed on a Wall - Scenic Artists' Tips and Tricks

There may be sets when you need a striped wall. Sometimes, the number of stripes doesn't matter and they are only supposed to be a certain width. At those times, it doesn't matter if you know how many stripes are on the wall. However, there are times that you need to figure out how wide stripes should be for a wall because there are a certain number of stripes. If you need to do this, here is how it is done.

A striped wall.

Of course, this trick only works if you want your stripes to be of equal width. If you want stripes of different widths, that will take some more calculating.

Let's say that a script says that there are a series of pink and purple stripes on a wall with there being 11 pink stripes and 12 purple stripes.

1. Find the total number of stripes. 12 pink stripes and 13 purple stripes give a total of 25 stripes.
2. Find the height of the wall Use a tape measure such as the Komelon SM5425 Speed Mark Gripper to measure your wall from top to bottom.
3. Divide the height of the wall by the number of stripes. If your wall happens to be 8' high, you then divide 8' by 25. This results in 0.32 feet. This value can be multiplied by 12 in order to get inches. That results in 3.84". You now know that each stripe will be 3.84".
4. Mark your stripes with a pencil before painting them. Measure 3.84" from the top of the wall and make a straight line with a pencil such as these AmazonBasics Pre-sharpened Wood Pencils.
5. Paint your stripes. Make sure that you paint the color of the odd numbered stripe at the very top of the wall. You can then skip the stripe afterward and continue the pattern. If you have more than one person painting, you can have that person start on painting the other color from the opposite side, making sure to start painting on the second stripe down.

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