I absolutely love hexagons, aren't they such a wonderful shape? They just tessellate so well.

I have wanted to do this project for about two years, and just never had the project figured out enough, or had the time or motivation to do it. This summer I decided to finally do it.

The way I wanted to do this project has changed over the years. At some point I thought about doing either vertical or horizontal stripes. I decided that it would be best to steer clear of these ideas. Because of the zig zag shelf neither of these designs would look right.

I spent about $90 on this project, and it took me between two and three days, (about 20 hours) to complete. Three hours of this time was taping. To me it was worth every minute and every penny.

I decided before I started this project that I wanted the hexagons tilted so that neither the point was vertical or one side ran horizontal. I did this because without something pointing vertical or running horizontal it takes a little bit longer for your mind to pick out any mistakes. Plus it gives the wall a really cool effect.

Although I really like this effect I have found that it messes with some peoples minds and tricks them into thinking that nothing in the room is square. So think about that when you are deciding what angle to put the hexagons
on.

Step 1: Materials

here is a complete list of what I used:

shop rags

drill

phillips head bit

allen head bit, the kind used on ikea furniture

cardboard, for the template

scissors

spackle

putty knifes and other spackling tools I used a gift card because my spackling tools were not available

drop cloth

painters tape I used frog brand tape for delicate surfaces and was not impressed with the quality at all, the paint bled under it although the tape has paint block and is not supposed to and it damaged my wall in several places.

I managed to do my entire wall with one roll of tape my wall is about 10 feet by 8 feet.

roller frame and roller mine was a microfiber 9 inch roller with a 3/8 inch nap

very small paint brush

mini roller and frame

3 inch drywall screws

level

small drill bit mine was about an 1/8 inch

paint the base color if needed and the color or colors for the hexagons the color I use for the hexagons was purple surf from the Olympic One series

utility knife

palm sander you want an orbital one NOT a belt sander

sandpaper I used 80 and 60 grit

Drywall sanding screens, I used 3m drywall screens

ruler

pencil

paint tray

settlers of catan piece, or other small, equilateral hexagon

hair dryer

ikea strip lights

command adhesive strips

paint stir sticks

a really good playlist

Step 2: Wall Prep

Clear the wall. Pull down anything hung or stuck to the wall, and move any furniture that will hinder your work.

If you happen to have a wall paper boarder like I did, now is the time to remove it. I did this by slitting it in the coners with the ulility knife and trying to peel it off, It ripped a lot so I got the hair dryer, heated the paper on the highest setting and tried to peel it off that way, This worked a little better. I eventually ended up heating up the paper and trying to get under the edges with a putty knife, so that they would roll up and be easily peeled off.

Step 3: Spackel

Remove all tackpins, nails, screws, staples and anything else that does not belong in the wall. Be carefull when doing this. In the proccess of removing the mounting bracket for one of the shelves we broke one of the screws. It left us with a piece of it sticking out of the wall. We used a dremel tool to cut if off then recessed it in the wall so that it could be spackled over.

Identify all the hole, dents, and scratches in the wall. Take your time and fill all of them with the spackle. The more holes you fill the better the wall will look when you are done.

Step 4: Sand

Sand down any spackle and high spots in the wall. In my case this was a lot. There were a few places that I had to sand all the way down to the paper on the drywall.

I recommend that once you think you have any high sanded all the way down start making circles on and off of the high spot so that any rough edges are smoothed out. and the high spot is less noticeable.

Step 5: Base Coat

If you need to put a base coat down, or just touch it up now is the time to do it. If you plan to use a large roller and paint the whole wall I recommend taping around the edges and putting down the drop cloth before you do this.

I painted basically the whole wall and this would have been much easier and quicker if I had done this.

Step 6: Make the Template

Make the template.

Here is the method I used. If you want yours the same size I would stick to this method. Otherwise I highly recommend that if you think of something better use it !

I used a large piece of thin cardboard to make my template. I traced one of the hexagon pieces from the Settler of Catan game out on the the cardboard about 12 inches from the two edges.

Then I took the ruler and measured the lenght of the side divided it in half and marked it. Then I took the ruler and drew a straigh line 15 inches long with the 7.5 inch mark at the center mark of the side. i did this on all six sides.

I connected the end of one line to the end of the second line over, and i did this six different times so that i formed a much larger hexagon.

Cut it out.

Step 7: Tape Off the Edges

Tape off the edges as pictured if you have not already done it.

Step 8: Tape the First Hexagons

Tape the hexagon to the wall. I did this by rolling up a piece of tape and putting it on the back. Ii started with painters tape and after it continually adhered poorly I switched to a couple of pieces of duct tape on the back. The duct tape did not damage the wall

Before you tape the entire wall with the hexagon you should really tape one down to the wall remove the template, step back and make sure that the hexagon looks right on the wall.

If you plan to have one side of your4 hexagon level get the level and level it before taping. Do the same thing if you plan to have the point vertical.

For me neither of these things were problems because I did not want the hexagons to point vertical or run horizontally.

Step 9: Tape All of the Other Hexagons and Trim

Put on your favorite playlist, because this takes a while. For me it took about 3 hours.

Use the ruler and pencil to mark a perpendicular line to the inside edge of the painters tape. you want the line to be in the inside of the hexagon corner. Do this on both inside corners of the same side. After this is done line the template up so that the corners line up with the lines that you marked on the tape. Tape around the hexagon.

Now that the second hexagon is taped on lining them up becomes easy. So line up the hexagons and tape the entire wall up this way. Be careful when you are doing all of the edges of the wall, so that the project will come out looking better.

Don't forget to take off any outlet covers and tape over them.

Make sure to cover any holes in the tape joints and to trim any excess from the joints,so that you don't need to redo any corners later.

Step 10: Paint

Put down your drop cloth so that you can paint the wall with less mess. Stir the paint even if you don't think you need to, do it anyway then paint the wall. I would paint gently the first coat so that you don't roll the tape back.

I did two coats and let the first coat dry about 2 1/2 hours before putting on the second coat. The directions for my paint said two hours between coats, your paint may be different so make sure to look at the directions.

Step 11: Remove the Tape

This is the best part of the entire process in my opinion. I recomend to be gentle and take your time when doing this, so that if a problem were to occur you could try to fix it with out doing a ton of damage.

Step 12: Do Any Needed Touch Up

Touch up any spots that you feel need it. I used a small flat crayola paint brush and a small cup to do this. As you can see from the pictures on some of the corners I just used a pencil and the ruler to extend the side with a line and then just filled in the area. in other places i just taped it off and painted over it.

Hopefully if you do this you will have less bleeding under the tape. I used what I thought was a good brand of painters tape and was highly disappointed with the results on the edges.

Step 13: Mount the Light to the Shelf

All I did to hang the strip lights was connect the three strips together, line them up where i wanted them to sit, made sure that the cord comes off the correct side for my purposes.

I stuck the strip lights down using command adhesive strips. The ones i had happened to be too wide for the lights so once they were attached I used my utility knife to trim them down.

I already had the shelf and I purchased the stripe lights here are the links to both. The zigzag self is no longer sold so i can't give a link for it.

shelf:

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/5028218...

lighting:

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/5019207...

Step 14: Hang the Selves

For me this was very easy, because I already had both shelves, so I already knew how to hang both and since only shelf got moved this was super easy.

I did take the mounting brackets for both shelves down so that I did not get paint on the one that stayed in the same place.

For the other shelf i picked the new spot, used the level to draw a line that it would be on, makng sure that the line was level. I used the stud finder to find to studs, drilled into the wall to make sure that when I screwed into the wall to make sure that the shelf would be mounted into studs. I then lined the bracket up on the wall so that the shelf would be butted up against the other wall.

Then i put the brackets for the other shelf back up in the same spots that they were in and mounted the shelf to them.

I tightened up all the screws on the zigzag shelf before rehanging it.

Step 15: Put the Room Back Together

I used this as an excuse to do some major spring cleaning. I think I vacuumed everything that could possibly be vacuumed.

I hope that you have enjoyed seeing my project. If you decide to do this please comment and leave some pictures. If you liked this instructables please don't forget to vote for me.

And as always be safe, be creative, have fun and have a great day