We all loved the chalkboard but it was time for a change! So after a little ruminating, I decided to paint the walls off-white and do a decorative design of birds and clouds like this wallpaper that I have long admired. It's called Daydream by Hygge & West. So lovely. So pricey. ;) Fortunately, I have lots of free time so I figured I could paint something similar without the hassle of installing wallpaper.
I began by priming the chalkboard wall and painting. I used "Dove White" by Valspar. Georgia helped me, she's a very neat roller and we're working on her cutting in skills.
It took three coats to cover that gray. I should have primed the whole room to start! After the walls were ready, I was extremely eager to start the birds and clouds design. I decided to paint the design on only two walls because I knew it was going to be quite the endeavor. I enlarged and printed out a sample and made a stencil to transfer the design to the wall. I used a colored pencil for the markings.
Of course, I was most excited to paint the birds. I used some leftover paint from the bookcase project for the birds.
It only took a few sessions to paint the birds and then I switched over to clouds. I used the blue gray paint from our bedroom for the clouds. They took a lot longer... In between clouds, I did some outlining on the birds. I did the outlines with a black paint pen, that was nice and fun!
Before long all the outlining was done and I had to settle in and paint clouds. Over and over again... for about 11 days straight. I did take one day off in the middle there. haha!
I let Georgia practice on one of the clouds.
After many long hours of painting while standing on a ladder, on a stepstool, kneeling or sitting on the floor, I finally finished! Whew! The hardest part was the bottom next to the baseboard. It was hard to get down there and paint with any accuracy but I did the best I could. And I think it turned out pretty awesome!
I finally got all the furniture moved back in and my dad came and resized my tabletop so it would be slightly smaller for this small room. We hung up the macrame swing again and voila! So beautiful!
I did leave a few of Georgia's toys in her room instead of putting them back in here so it feels a little cleaner and less cluttered. We'll see how long before the mess returns! haha!
Here's a closeup of the design.
If I ever get brave enough, I might hang some more art on the walls in here, but for now I can't bring myself to cover up the birds or put any holes in the wall knowing what a difficulty it will be to patch them in the future!!
Of course it wouldn't be right to leave without a before and after comparison!
Before:
After:
What do you think? I hope to see you all around here again soon. When I recover from this project!
