Woodland Night Scene Mural

When we found out we were moving here for my hubby's work, about 3.5 hours away from where my boys had spent the first few years of their life, I had to get creative to keep the oldest from being too bummed out. His best buddy lived right across the street and they played on a near daily basis in our front yard. So, being the stupid intelligent, creative mother that I am, I told him we would decorate his new bedroom however he wanted. I was trying to get him excited and focused on something good about the move. Lesson to the wise: Careful what you promise! My sadistic sweet five year old then announced he wanted his entire room painted to look like he was outside camping in the mountains! (Imagine me turning pale and backpedaling fiercely!)

Now, I was taught that a man or woman is only as good as his or her word. Someone should be able to always count on you to keep your word without having to have a "contract" to make you do it and I live by that. So, I was stuck. Lucky for me, we first moved into a condo for about six months while land hunting and drawing up house plans. I had some time to brainstorm how I was going to fulfill this promise I'd stupidly made.

When we bought this house, my big boy's room and was GIRLIE! I was quickly informed he was NOT sleeping in a girls room. So, guess what the first thing I did before even moving in was? I sat in this room and stripped wallpaper (all that wall color is paper) off with Downy April fresh to the point I can't stand the smell to this day! We ripped out all the carpet in the house and replaced it. It was also drenched in Downy! UGH!



You can't see the beautiful palladian window top with this valance.

 Next, I put a preliminary coat of paint on the walls and called it a day until we could come up with a plan. He was insistent on having camouflage. I have a serious aversion to the stuff. I grew up associating camo with hunting and military - nothing wrong with either - but I was surrounded by it. Outside those two contexts, I don't want to see it. (There is something about a man in uniform, though!) Small mountain town with a military college and Army Ranger station. I saw it constantly and was determined my boys were not going to have it anywhere. Never say "Never". I knew I was in trouble when it came into "vogue" a number of years ago and was even pink. I tried every angle to get around it with no success. He's very determined.

So, after weeks of hunting for a "tasteful" version we found a comforter I could work with. Now, I am just going to say up front, that I would love to have every room in my house look model perfect, but there is a limit to how much of that I am going to do in my boys' rooms. I don't want them to feel like they live in museum and have no say-so in their spaces.

Next we pow-wowed on ideas for a mural. "We" spent hours hunting for inspiration pics and coming up with ideas until we could come to an agreement on what he and I would be happy with (since I was going to be doing all the work). This was the end result:



Some things here would be different if I was staging the room, but this is where my big boy lives and this is how he likes it:)




I love this navy color on the three surrounding walls. It's Benjamin Moore's "Midnight Blue".
The top above the plate rack is the lightest color on the same card, "Glass Slipper". Awesome color!

 See that old school desk in the corner? That was one of my first projects years ago. You should have seen it before! Too bad I didn't get a photo of the horrid yellow/green/etc. paint that had been carved into by kids over the years!

And here is it. It spans the entire wall. It's painted in five colors off that same card: Midnight Blue, Blue Spruce, Water's Edge, Santorini Blue, and Brittany Blue - all Benjamin Moore colors mixed in Behr Premium Plus Ultra Paint/Primer.

Originally this Buck was a Doe. But, I was informed I should have a male with two females,
so "she" was anatomically corrected to become a "he"!

I am still not totally done with this room.  I need to finish the second coat of navy in the tree tops over the deer. Yes, that was two coats of paint on every single part - all done with tiny brushes! We are going to make a gallery wall over the bed for all his sports and school pictures in white frames. Trophies are slowly surrounding the room on the plate rack. The curtains were an unbelievable find...at GOODWILL! I nearly choked with excitement when I found them. They were custom made 11 ft. lined chenille with a navy/khaki bullion fringe. I took the fringe off and hemmed them. They are perfect for letting the window show during the day, and can be drawn at night so the "boogey man" can't see in the top window (they also insulate great in winter). Would you believe I only paid $3.00 for them?! You can't even get a yard of good fabric for that! The bedroom furniture was my grandfathers that I've been waiting on the day I could use somewhere:)

I am quite happy with how it came out and actually discovered how much I love painting silhouette style murals while doing this. I did learn to paint them on a canvas, though, not on sheet rock. That way they can be saved, removed, etc. Guess when we move, I'll be cutting down some sheet rock and taking it with me (wink, wink)!

Miss Bee

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