3.01.2010

MSM: A tree for Nigel

Once I saw this Fabric on the Walls Tutorial over at Infarrantly Creative, I knew I wanted to do that instead of buying a mural. That way I could get the perfect mix of whimsy and realism that we wanted.


She has pretty good directions but I documented our process anyway because, well, I'm a blogger and that's what we do.


I started by cutting out a tree shape with newspaper. I thought it was going to take me a long time to get something good but it wasn’t that hard at all. I taped it to the wall to see if I liked the size and I did.

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Then I went fabric shopping and found this awesome mottled brown. I used 1.75 yards of the brown which may seem like a random amount but that was all Hobby Lobby had left. Luckily it turned out to be enough but I did have to divide the tree into three parts to get it all on there. The seams didn’t show later so it wasn’t a big deal.

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I used the newspaper as the pattern but I did make a few changes. I noticed that the thinner branches looked a little less scary than some of my bigger branches. I wanted this to be a friendly tree not a creepy shadowy tree like you have nightmares over.

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Then I used a little roller to wet the wall with liquid starch and stick my fabric up there. It doesn’t take much liquid starch at all to get a good stick. You might notice that I had to make some more changes here since the third branch ran into the vent. At this point I wasn’t sure if I liked it with the changes and was frustrated but Craig wisely suggested we take a break.

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After a nap and a snack, my hormones had settled and I went back to finish it up. I freehanded some leaves from two different greens and put them in place while Craig wiped down the starch that had dried on the wall. It looked a lot happier with the leaves. After a few hours it was dry enough to move the changing table back into place and put a nail over one of the branches. I speared Hoot the beanie baby owl with a large safety pin and hung him on the nail. Ta-da! A tree for Nigel!

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The total cost was about $11 which includes the three fabrics, liquid starch and roller. Not bad. This project was a lot easier than I was anticipating and I’m now in love with fabric “wallpapering.” When we move I can simply wet down the fabric with water and it will peel right off, ready to be reused if we want. This would be a super easy way to decorate a kids room with flowers, bugs, or even simple car or truck shapes.


Be sure to head over and visit Amanda at Putting Down Roots, home of the Make Something Monday!

7 comments :

  1. Wow, I want to redo my whole nursery. But I think I'll stick with the elephants for now. I think for the next baby (God willing) we'll keep all the same bedding, but keep the elephants with Zuzu and put owls in for the new baby. And then after that, maybe giraffes. And then... I hope I have a lot of kids!

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  2. Yay you! It's adorable, Nigel will love that :)

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  3. That's adorable!

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  4. You did a wonderful job. Thanks for the shout out. It is the perfect addition to your room. :-)

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