"Mission Dress the Walls" - Project 1 Update

So, we've made some great progress on part 1 of "Mission Dress the Walls". Last week I shared with you the ampersand that my father created for us to use in our Master Bedroom. My original thought had been to paint it one of the colours found in our West Elm duvet cover. I even went so far as to pull out all of my paint swatch books, and colour match it to one of the colours in the Para Paints deck.

After a bit of consideration, I realized maybe going neutral would be a better idea. This would mean that we would be able to move it freely around this home, and any future home, and not have to worry about whether it would match, or if we would need to repaint it. Plus, with white paint already on hand, my project would remain free, and who doesn't love a project like that right?


So, last Friday while Halle was napping, I pulled out my paints and got to work on it. 

I let my first coat dry very well, and just as I suspected, the wood really soaked up the paint and a second coat was very necessary (and a third). In the end, B and I stepped back and agreed that white was the way to go. 

While that dried, we got to work in the bedroom. First, I used the templates that came with the frames, as well as our stencil for the ampersand, to lay out where we wanted everything on the wall. I started by eyeballing it, and it really looked good at first glance...

When I was all done, B came in and started measuring and discovered I was pretty much bang on. I gave myself a little pat on the back for that one. He did have to make a few adjustments and spent some time realigning and levelling everything. 

Even though they were still empty, I wanted to get the frames up on the wall on Friday night. I knew that having them up there like that would force me to get the photos printed as soon as possible. The stencil also stayed right where it was, as we still needed to figure out how we wanted to hang the ampersand.


Yesterday, Halle and I made a trip to Home Depot and I did some searching for different options to hang the ampersand. In the end I opted for some 3M picture hanging strips. Now, everything may be up on the wall (still without photographs), but I can't reveal anything more to you yet. I know that seems like a big tease, but we actually have another project underway in our bedroom that I'm not prepared to reveal to you yet either... so you'll have to be patient and I will reveal both soon. 


I'll just say the bedroom is starting to look more and more like an appropriate master bedroom retreat. 


What have you done in your master bedroom to make it feel like your own space?