"Write them on the doorframes..."

"Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates." Deuteronomy 11: 18-20

A couple years ago, on a website I can no longer find, a woman wrote about how she had stenciled Bible verses on the walls of her home. I loved this idea so much and I filed it away in the back of my mind. I've thought about it a lot off and in since then and about 6 months ago, finally bought the paint and brush and exacto knife. Friday morning, I had nothing on my morning agenda, and was thrilled to begin.


This is the entrance to our dining room from our kitchen. I wanted to start here, because I was very sure of the verse I wanted and it was a short enough verse that if I messed up terribly, it'd be less to paint over. Thankfully, it went well and I am excited to take on the next two rooms I have ideas for.

In case you'd like to try this, here is (a very detailed account of) what I did:

1) I opened a word document and typed out the verse, magnified '200'. I can be pretty slow about computer-related things and just discovered that you can make things bigger than '72' by typing another number in the top field. I used the font Papyrus, but you could choose any font, of course. I then printed it out on card stock.

2) Next, I used my brand new and very sharp exacto knife to cut out the letters, including the centers of letters like, e, a, b, etc.

3) Then, I lined up all the pages and taped them together, making sure that they all ran in a straight line and that words from one page to another were spaced the same distance as those that were on the same page.

4) I taped them onto my wall and used a level to level the stencil. This is very important in an old house like ours. The molding at the top of this door is NOT level, but thankfully, the ceiling is (good job, dear). This way, if you, or people you know have an 'eye' for the level, like I do, it won't be terribly distracting. Also, you want to make sure it is centered if it's over a door, window or on a small wall.

5) After your stencil is taped up, put little, tiny tape donuts on the backs of the inside of your e, a, b, etc. and tape them into place.

6) I used stencil paint, that was more like a paste, and dabbed my stencil brush into it and tapped the letter openings head-on. I used my fingers to press the stencil down right around each letter I was doing to keep my brush from sliding under by accident.

7) Finally, I very carefully removed the stencil and prayed that it looked alright as I stepped down off my stool. Whew.

For all you crafty-folk out there, I'm sure this is a no-brainer project. For me, it took a little thought, but not too much time. Start to finish it took about 2 hours and I was taking my time. In the same time, Jamey installed a new hot water heater (again, good job, dear).

It took about 1 minute for Sam to memorize it. Hmmmm. I think there might be a whole lot more scripture going up on our walls soon:-). Pin It