We are in the process of repainting our living and dining room walls. I am thinking of putting a narrow stencil along the upper dining room walls. My fiance doesn't want something too wide. Does anyone have any ideas and experience around appropriate stencil designs and colors for a bungalow of this period? We will be painting the walls a very light sage green. Thanks. <br> <br>

Good idea on checking other places for similar designs. You can also make your own stencils. Craft stores sell the plastic sheets. You can cut a design out with an exacto knife or with a stencil cutter. It's a heat pen type thing, pretty inexpensive. The little point gets hot and melts through the plastic as you draw it along the design. I made a stencil for curtains in my last house and it turned out great. Just photo copy or scan a piece of fabric, choose the design you want to use and shrink or enlarge it to suit your needs.I chose an design element from the upholstery fabric, traced it on the plastic, cut it out and stencilled away. It was really easy. <br> <br>

Once you take a look at some of the websites online (Trimbelle, etc.).....take a peek in your local Walmart, Michael's, Menards or other craft/home type store. Many times you can find virtually identical patterns.....much less expensive. <br> <br>

There are some great stencil designs you can take a look at by going to the main page for American Bungalow and looking at the sponsor web sites. Trimbelle River has some nice ones. A neighbor of mine used the Jean Marie (sp) design and it really looked wonderful in her craftsman home. Very simple and understated. <br> <br>Even though they aren't stencils, you might want to take a look at the Bradbury and Bradbury catalogs of wallpaper borders. You can request them on their web page. They sent several different catalogs to me and I was surprised by some of the borders I had never seen anywhere before. They have some really nice borders that are historically appropriate. Even if you didn't want to use a wallpaper border, they can serve as great inspiration. <br> <br>Whenever I'm thinking about decorating projects, I always go back to the assortment of bungalow books out there that show interior pictures. They also often show old catalog depictions of rooms that can give you some ideas about what might be period appropriate. <br> <br>