“Do whatever you want, I trust you.” Ahhhh, the sweetest words a designer can hear! My sister-in-law is pregnant with her first and has given me full creative license to do whatever I want in her nursery. It’s not completely done yet (more pictures to come, I promise), but I just finished painting the crib wall and just had to share it with you all!
The mommy-to-be wanted a girly nursery for her first princess but didn’t want all pink walls. She had room in the nursery for a day bed and a crib, and we were able to use Caden Lane’s Boutique Big Girl Bedding and their brand new Tiny Bouquet bedding together to create the perfect color palette! Both designs have beautiful flowers in the fabric, and I knew I wanted to recreate something floral on the wall. (No more trees! I’m so over trees.)
I went to my local craft store with fabric swatches in hand and bought a variety of pinks and greens that coordinated with both fabrics. I grabbed one of those assorted bags of paintbrushes, some paper plates from home and a paper towel (just in case!).
If you want the flowers to be the exact same size, you can easily create a stencil with a posterboard or just a plain sheet of paper. I wanted a whimsical look, with each flower slightly different from the rest, so I decided to wing it.
When painting flowers, I’ve learned that you just have to layer. I always start with a light color as the shape of the flower. Then, dipping my brush in a combination of different colors, I start to create the shapes of the petals. Just by dipping one side of my brush into a darker pink and the other side in a lighter pink, the stroke gives it a shading effect. Best part is, if you don’t like it, just paint over it. There are no rules as to how many times you have to brush to create that perfect shape.
Once all the flowers are painted with step 1 and 2, I dip a thin brush in the darkest pink and go back to each flower to add the spiral at the top of the flower. It gives it the “rose” shape and helps define the “petals” on the flowers. Then, go back, add some pops of leaves, and you’re done! If only the wall smelled as good as it looks!
I love how the flowers create a dot effect on the wall. They aren’t too busy, and the large monogram helps add focus to the center of the wall. It’s a design that can grow with the little girl for years to come.
Comments
Alison Mar
Wow, the result is amazing! So girly and sweet. Your sister in law was so right in trusting you.
Sherri Blum
Love it all! And your new bedding collections are all so very beautiful!
Mindy
Beautiful! Somehow this reminds me of Cath Kidston :D
Jillian Scotts
The roses look so easy to paint in your photos. But I am very sure that actually doing it is much harder.
Kim
Who’s Cath Kidston?
Andrea Lowe
You are actually right, Mindy. Even if you are not familiar with Cath Kidston’s designs, just do a Google image search and you’d be bombarded with roses!