do a sample on a piece of tagboard. sounds a bit 80's??

Most paint companies sell samples in only one sheen. However, Behr samples* are available in flat and semi-gloss. You could experiment with the two sheens but I'll make an uneducated prediction that if the background and stencil colors are the same, the stenciling won't be noticeable after all the effort you put into doing it.

*Of course you could also buy a quart of each matte and high-gloss.

I don't have an example, but find several on Pinterest should you want to check it out.

Here is a pic of our bedroom wall. Paint is the same color just different sheens if that helps.... If the question is if it will be noticeable--it will be.

I have seen tone on tone done with waterborne satin clear polyurethane on flat paint as well.

I ahve done stripes on walls with all matte then the stripes with a clear high gloss finishe . I see no reason this can't work but of cours you need to do a teast board or two. The easy way is what I did with just a gloss for the stencil so not need to buy 2 paints BTW ho high gloss as thebase .

I havent done a stencil the same color on top of the same color paint, but, I have painted walls in eggshell paint and sponge painted on top of them, with semi gloss of the same color. At the time, I really liked it, but, sponge painting isnt really done much anymore.

arcy_gw: "Paint is the same color just different sheens if that helps"

Interesting. Was the color from the paint manufacturer's standard palette (i.e., not custom mixed)? The base paint was identical (e.g., matte, high gloss) except for the sheen?

Do a search on Google - so many pictures.

One thing to pay attention to in the pictures is the amount of light. White out light hitting the walls on an angle, the pattern won't show up as much.

There were lots of tutorials on how to do it as well.

Good luck!

wdccruise yes it's a standard color from the Pittsburg paint Co. at Menards. One stripe is semi gloss and one is gloss. Matte is a PITB to live with so would never try that. Same exact ingredients when they mixed it up except the base gloss level.

Here's another angle.

Of course the downside of gloss paint is that it highlights every flaw in the wall as one can see in the lightest area of the photo. My walls are mostly eggshell but even that sheen shows deficiencies when viewed at an angle.