I have always wanted a Big Mural on the wall in my babies room, but it has taken me to my third child to get gutsy enough to do it! I have always loved the way it looks in other nursery designs I have seen online, in person, and in many boutiques. My only problem was that I know I wanted a tree, but I also knew I didn't want a tree like every other tree mural I see. White, with lots of branches, and almost looks like cherry blossoms on it. I Love that design and how it looks, but too many people have it, and I kind of like to be dirrerent and original when i can. So... here is what i came up with. I tried my first ree hand design in my
girls room a few months back. I really had a lot of fun, so I decided to do it again. If you have ever painted anything free hand, you'll know that you just kind of get lost in it as you are creating it, and then hope it turns out as you saw it in your head. But is really is just so fun! When i show after pictures of the nursery all finished, I will dig through my old photos and find a picture of what the office once looked like, when the wall was dark green. When I turned it into my craft room, I used the navy blue with white shelves, and loved the way it looked when it was clean, and before it kind of became the storage room of stuff that needs dejunked/ craft room. So, to start this mural wall, I first had to patch the holes of where the shelves where hung. Then I added a fresh coat of blue to most of the wall. (Sorry, no pictures for any of those.)
After the wall was prepped, I took a smaller paint brush and drew the design I wanted in primer. Then I filled it all in with a larger paint brush.
Then I went over the primer in the same color paint the ceiling is. I didn't want to paint the ceiling green like the rest of the room, so i decided to make the tree the same color as the celing instead of white so it would blend in. Also, I like that the beige isn't as bright as the white was.
Then onto the details. I really had no clue what I was doing when I painted the owl, and now that it is done, I would have done it a little different, but I still like him, and according to my oldest, he is sitting on the branch so no one will take his babies that are in the hole in the tree. Also, he has a name. She named him Who-ha. Not sure where she got it, but it works! It is also hard to see in the picture but the owl is sleeping, so his eyes are closed. and he has eyelashes so you can tell.
After the owl, I added the leaves. They are the same color green as the other walls in the room. I decided to leave my saying I had up in my craft room, "Do something creative every day" Because it fits well with the mural.Oh, and the owl, and the whole were done with the little $1 bottle of craft paint you can find at walmart or joannes. You don't have to buy a whole can of paint to do the small details. But if you do have a variety of paint leftover from other projects it works well to! That is what I did with the tree!
This picture, if you look closely to the right, you can see the walls that are green. I am no pro at this, and I don't expect anyone to think its that grand, and please keep in mind, I am a beginner, and this was my first big project. But i did have alot of fun doing it, and want to encourage anyone out there to try it if they have been thinking about it. Besides, it's only paint. If you hate it, you can paint right over it, and no one would ever know!
~Elisa~
