Who knew that Chevron would be the decorating trend in 2013? I could totally be wrong about the year of this trend, but that’s when it pinged my radar. Clever to change zigzag to Chevron, though. Whoever did that was genius. Makes it more appealing like Target to “Tar-zhay”. Totally changes the feel from old school zigzags to upscale, trendy zigzags. I couldn’t imagine convincing my husband to let me paint a floor in zigzags. Instead, I confused him with the fancy Chevron word and it was green-lighted with a slightly perplexed look. He gives me those often. I think he does it to make me double think my actions. It doesn’t really work. To me paint and DIY decorating can easily be changed.

Just to prove my point about how trendy Chevron is Google provided me with this cool graph displaying its rise and fall in popularity.

I decided to use this pattern for our poor neglected front porch. Yep, I jumped right on the Chevron Stripe train. And, front porch is a generous term for what we actually have; it is more a catchall for anything sports related and #momof3boys related. Lots of things with wheels and all types of balls. I, of course, would like it to be a relaxing Southern wrap around kinda porch. It’s not very relaxing and too small for my dream, but it did need to make a better first impression.

I asked Google, again, for the best chevron template and found a free printable from The Creativity Exchange. It was easy to download, super quick to print, and simple to assemble. I did modify mine, so it would keep the sharp edges and points of the pattern. Once I had it cut out and taped together, I took packing tape and covered the entire template. Basically, I turned the template into a cheap DIY laminated version. Worked great for me!

Next, I began trying to figure out what color to paint the zigzag stripes. The month before I had finally repainted the front door from barn red to a light sea green, re-frosted the glass, and added some more beachy decor to the porch. We also invested in some awesome wire storage bins for the boy gear. This is where I searched Pinterest. I looked up painted chevron floors and got a load of results. I choose a turquoise marine color—see former post about Turquoise here. By the way, what did we do before Pinterest? Before the color could even be added to the floor, I had to scrub the old concrete floor and repaint it bright white. I used all exterior gloss paint for the project. I did not feel the need to use a concrete floor paint since our porch is fully covered and does not get wet or icy by the elements. If your porch is not covered or offers little protection, I would highly recommend paint that would provide a non-slip surface and weather well.

So, two coats of bright white paint later I began to pencil on the chevron pattern. After much deliberation, I chose to have my pattern run horizontally. It made the porch seem bigger and looked more like an area rug. I tried taping off the pattern, but the tape pulled up some of the white paint. I made the decision to just trust my steady hand and tediously hand painted each stripe. I did a pretty good job and am pleased with the look of the porch now.

I was super pleased with the color. Bright and beachy! The entire project took about 1 1/2 weeks. It was late July and early August, so I let each coat of paint dry for one whole day. Humidity can wreck your painted projects. I also put a clear coat of polyurethane to protect the newly painted Chevron. My family was not too happy that I continued to make them use the back door for several days to be certain that all the paint was dry. Oh well, it was good exercise for them.