disclosure:  This post is sponsored by Sherwin-Williams.®

A long time in a land far away I sat in geometry class and watched a super cute boy wearing a backwards baseball cap play his drum sticks on his math book.

My friends and I would laugh and giggle and he’d act like he didn’t notice us.

He was way too cool for any nonsense like that.

Of course he was….

…he had drum sticks.

I remember thinking two things:

1. He had no idea who I was.

2. Geometry was nonsense and I’d never, ever use it in my entire life.

I was wrong about both. 🙂

That drum stick player twinkled his eyes at me and swept me off my feet and married me and carted me away to a farmhouse in the middle of nowhere.

And then?

He took a page from his geometry book.

He used the Pythagorean Theorem to create take a blank wall in one of our upstairs bedrooms that looked like this….

….and transform it into this.

A diy herringbone wall with an ombre effect.

I know, right?

Have you ever seen a Pythagorean Theorem look so pretty?

Raise your hand if you remember the Pythagorean Theorem?

It’s all about triangles.

You use the theorem when you want to find the length of the hypotenuse of a right triangle if you know the other sides of the triangle.

Or if you speak geometry it’s a2 + b2 = c2.

If you don’t speak geometry, no worries.

That drummer figured it all out for all of us and I’m posting an entire tutorial on the wall next week in case you want to make one yourself.

It all started with paint.

And paint for me starts with Sherwin-Williams (since my very first blank wall in my very first house).

Here are the colors we used:

SW 6244 Naval

SW 9176 Dress Blues

SW 2739 Charcoal Blue

SW 2740 Mineral Gray

SW 7072 Online

SW 7074 Software

SW 6251 Outerspace

SW 9146 Gris Morado

I fell in love with the color palette and chose most of the colors from Pottery Barn’s spring/summer color collection.

And then we made this shelf to mimic the herringbone on the wall.

It’s made from 1″ x 4″‘s and stained Minwax Provincial Interior Stain.

I added stacks of books and a few pencils.

Here’s a close-up of the herringbone effect.

It’s just rectangles layered on top of each other.

And then layers on top of that.

And now?

I’m so glad I learned geometry.

I’m so glad I giggled when I heard drum beats on a math book.

But most of all?

I’m glad a and b got together and hung around with c. 🙂

PS  I can’t wait to show you the tutorial.  It’s a step-by-step that turns triangles into these rectangles.

disclosure:  This post was written in collaboration with Sherwin-Williams.

All opinions are my own.

Please see my disclosure page for more information.

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Comments

  1. Image for Michelle Michelle

    The wall is beautiful -- I love the design and colors, but those shelves that mimic the design are genius! I'm a big fan of Sherwin Williams too and they're always so helpful in the store ;-)

  2. Image for Jayne Jayne

    WOW ... the drummer did good, the wall looks absolutely amazing !! The shelves are such a wonderful addition and looks sooooo terrific too !! I love reading you posts ... you tell such fun and amazing stories, thank you for sharing some of your life with me. I'd say ... hummm ... YOU & that drummer guy are doin' okay. Jayne

  3. Image for Denise Cox Denise Cox

    Oh Karianne! What a lovely wall!! It's been a while since I've written a comment... missed you, but certainly haven't missed one blog! You are sooooo adorable.. ??.! Your book isn't out on the market yet, is it? A Blessed Easter to you and your family.. Your far away friend, Denise

  4. Image for Laura Dennis Laura Dennis

    That is the prettiest wall I have ever seen. Forwarding this post to my very-mathy husband (blood relative of your mathy hasband!) as a possibility for my daughter's new room. Your rock, Kari Anne!

  5. Image for Ardith Ardith

    Wow, gorgeous, impressive, with an awesome back story...these are all hallmarks of Kari Anne creativity. Kudos to you and your mathtastic drummer husband on this stunning feature wall. Cheers, Ardith

  6. Image for gina gina

    Oh how great is this wall! But I would be wrought with anxiety deciding where each color would go. Major accomplishment for you! An A for your math skills.

  7. Image for Marisa Franca @ All Our Way Marisa Franca @ All Our Way

    For a while there I thought you were speaking in German. I took Geometry and I'm sure I was taught what your talking about but right now my mind is filled with recipes of cakes, sides, veggies, lamb, and appetizers. :-( I'm going to whisper something to you and please don't judge me harshly. I don't like to paint. I'm wanting to hire it done. I know -- our house is little and there isn't THAT much to paint but I just don't want to do it. *sigh* We gave all of our painting stuff to our son -- I think Honey did that deliberately so I wouldn't ask him to paint another wall. But I really, really like your wall -- it looks fantastic. I can't wait to see how you did it. So glad you got your Prince Charming!! ?

  8. Image for Mary Mary

    I too met my prince in Geometry class... and I have a farmhouse (we lovingly named Thistlewood Farms- because of the relentless thistles) Maybe we're twins from different mothers :) I so love to read your blog, you are a fresh breath of sunshine, drenched air. Thank you for sharing your life stories... We are in our second year of remodeling a "fixer-upper". When we started I thought I would be living the dream at this time, but NOPE, still in the nightmare stage. Thanks again for reminding me there is a light at the end of the tunnel and its probably not going to be a train. :) Mary of Thistlewood Farms - Texas style Mary

  9. Image for Suzy McCowen Suzy McCowen

    I love that wall!!! And the awesome Sherwin Williams paint colors!! You have an awesome twinkly-eyed husband!!! I met mine in 8th grade math - no fireworks then. Met him again in Trigonometry in 11th grade. (we were math nerds) In 12th grade we knew we were going to marry.

  10. Image for MARY-ANN (FROM CANADA!) MARY-ANN (FROM CANADA!)

    This wall is so amazing! How nice that your husband helped you! Have a blessed day, KariAnne!

  11. Image for Jae Jae

    Wow! That wall is absolutely beyond incredible, and you are so fortunate to have Mr. twinkle eyes to plan all that out. At first look i thought it was wallpaper, because i didnt think it would be possible to execute such an awesome look with paint. Stunning!

  12. Image for Melissa Melissa

    I love your story! I admit I giggled when I read it! Took me back to high school..ah the memories! And you have yourself an very creative mathematician!

  13. Image for Libby Libby

    I am so grateful that Mr. Math guy married you. What a wonderful team you make. My really clever Mr Wonderful married me too, fifty years ago this June. Love your creativity and passion. Thank you for brightening my day with your blog. Love your happiness.

  14. Image for Leslie Watkins Leslie Watkins

    You lost me at the geometry...but I married a drummer who fathered two more drummers...so I totally understand the drum beats!! Love that herringbone wall, friend. :-)

  15. Image for Sue Sue

    The drummer is a keeper. The wall is beyond stunning,looking forward to the "how-to". I'm trying to decide if I have a wall for this project. Guess I could build a wall.

  16. Image for NormaJean NormaJean

    Wow! I'm speechless! I know your twinkling-eyed drummer made it work for you, BUT where do you come up with these amazing ideas?

  17. Image for STEPHANIE ABBOTT STEPHANIE ABBOTT

    That looks awesome! So much work. But worth it. Adding to my Pinterest queue. I'd love for you to join our link up To Grandmas House We Go. It opens Tuesday nights around 11pm ET. https://abbottsathome.com

  18. Image for Louise Adkins Louise Adkins

    Besides the math part (yuck) keeping the paint from bleeding even with "blue painter's tape" is a chore. Truly a work of love.

  19. Image for April Driggers April Driggers

    Okay this has to be the cutest thing I've read in forever!!! ❤️❤️ Beautiful finished wall too.

  20. Image for Mir Mir

    I love this wall. I've been away, and I get to read through and play 'catch-up'. I am so curious... frog tape? I have purchased some, and I am trying to perfect my usage of it. I still am not the best at the straight lines. The color scheme is gorgeous! I will certainly be stealing this idea :)

  21. Image for April J Harris April J Harris

    I kind of remember the Pythagorean Theorem - but I prefer to look at your beautiful wall! What a gorgeous project! Scheduled to pin. Thank you so much for sharing with us at Hearth and Soul. (And I'm glad the story ended so beautifully!)

  22. Image for Amanda Amanda

    I just love this! The color options are endless. I don't know if I have quite the patience you do but this would be just adorable in my sons play room! Thanks for sharing it on the Creative Circle link party :)

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