Max's room kind of naturally ended up being "woodland" themed.
I had started out with an idea that I would do soft blues and oranges and bring in geometric shapes, but then everything I bought for it seemed to have foxes and owls on it. So when I made the curtains (tutorial soon) with an arrow print on them all of a sudden I had a "theme" without ever having consciously decided to do one! But it works, and the whole room has been one of those things that just came together really easily, without me having to think about it much (or at all!).
So the room was pretty much done, but the wall behind the cot was completely blank. I had ordered blue and orange triangle decals when I thought I was going with a geometric feel, but now they just didn't work......
....ok, they probably would have worked just fine, but when I tried to put them up I realised it was going to be a NIGHTMARE to get them all even and lined up properly. I am both impatient and very bothered by things not lining up, so this was not going to work! I took them down again and kept them, I'm sure I'll find a use for them.
So I was left with a big blank wall....
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I thought about hanging some art, but it would need to be big, and I was kind of worried about it falling and squashing the sprog.
(He took a lot of time and food to make and I'm quite fond of him)
Also, I already had art on the other three walls and I thought it would be too cluttered looking if I put more frames and stuff here. So I left it blank for a while and searched pinterest for inspiration, and eventually I came across these decals....
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| Etsy |
....but I didn't have €80 lying around that I wanted to spend on decals. Plus they were a bit too "cute" for what I wanted. The room was already a little on the babyish side for my taste what with the soft colors and the baby woodland animals everywhere, so I wanted something a bit more graphic and "real" looking to tone it down. I know it's a kids room, but I was going for "childlike", not full-on babyish.
And then, lo and behold, I saw the idea for painting birch trees on canvas that I did a tutorial on last week , and i thought "holy crap! that's it!".
I tried it on the canvas, and it was unbelievably easy and effective, so one evening when Gavin was feeding the kids I grabbed a can of grey paint left over from our bedroom, a pencil and a plastic chopping board, and I headed upstairs to try it out.
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| Any large piece of thin, rigid material would do I think, but chopping boards are easy to come by. The paint is a colortrend color called "clockhouse" that I had mixed in fleetwood paint cos it's cheaper. |
And one hour later I had this.
I am not exaggerating, this whole wall took one hour, including gathering my stuff together and sorting the bed out again so Max could go to sleep! This was one of those things that you know is going to work from the start, I love when that happens!
I just drew a (really rough, freehand) outline of the trees on the wall in pencil and then used the same technique as I did on the canvas, dipping the chopping board in the paint, tapping off the excess and then placing it vertically against the outline on the wall and dragging it inwards.
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| It's really hard to take photos with your "wrong" hand when you're also trying to rush to get the project done and not get paint all over your phone....just saying |
Behold! My wonky tree's!
(proof they were free-hand)
I think they have character ;)
I got the little birdhouse's in Dealz for €1.49 each and painted them the same colour I used on the curtains.
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| That sign needs to be lower I think...funny how some things become obvious straight away when you take a photo. |
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| The orange colour is "sweet orange" by valspar. A tester did these, the curtains and the lamp stand....they do really generous testers! |
I used an old loyalty card to do the smaller branches...same as I used for the canvas version.
I think I'm just going to leave the middle blank. I originally thought I might put something there and that's why I left it, but now I like it as it is!
So that's Max's room all but done. As soon as I get the last two tiny jobs done in here I'll do a post on the whole thing.
I really love it. It's soft and cosy and baby-friendly without being TOO babyish.
What do you think? Have you ever tried your hand at a mural or feature wall? I'd love to hear about it in the comments!
And just because no post about his room would be complete without a picture of the man himself....
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| 'sup ladies? |
Linda xx
