DIY Wall Mural: A bold, floral nursery update
A few years ago I was aimlessly strolling the aisles of a craft store with one kid asleep in my baby carrier and the other sitting in the shopping cart happily devouring a bag of Old Fashioned Plain Timbits (the least messy of the Timbits... if you know, you know.). This is basically my version of "alone time". I stumbled across a bottle of liquid gold leaf. I'd never seen it before, but love the look of gold leaf but hate the effort it takes to use (and the price tag!). I bought two containers, one in "bronze" and one in "gold" and obsessively thought about all the amazing projects I could do with it.
Fast-forward about a year to when I decided to update my youngest's bedroom. Nothing had changed since my older daughter was in the space, and I had grown tired of the Ballet Slipper Pink wall behind the crib. The colour just didn't suit Tilly (we've lovingly nicknamed her "Tilly-the-Tank"). I'm drawn to more minimalistic spaces with neutral colours, and thought about doing a soft charcoal wall to contrast the full wall of windows and off-white walls. After a trip to Benjamin Moore to grab some paint swatches, though, I fell in love with a colour called Salamander. It looks like a soft black at night and during the day when the sun is directly shining in the room it looks like a very subtle emerald green. Sold! I painted the wall and decided to do something fun that was just for Tilly. Heres where the Liquid Leaf comes in. ;[
Start to finish, this project really only took a couple of hours at the most. I left about two months in between starting the mural and finally finishing it (because, life) but the actual time it took me to draft and paint was minimal. I started by lightly chalking in a design that I had previously doodled on my iPad. I wanted to keep the image minimal and simplistic (read: less painting and planning time). Once I was happy with the design I wiped off most of the chalk and went to work with the Liquid Leaf.
If you want to know more about my process, supplies I use, and tips and tricks I've learned while painting indoor wall murals, check out my DIY Mural Guide here.
