At Long Last

They say that the third time is a charm, right? Yup, most of you probably caught the two times that this post accidentally went up a while back (you'll catch three comments down there from the first two accidental posts)! Well, here's the REAL, FINAL reveal of the wall I hand painted in Halle's room!

You may remember that when we purchased our house in the spring, Halle's room was bright pink...

We wasted no time in painting it. B actually had it all painted before we officially moved in. The walls we painted cream, and I gave the closet doors a dose of bright coral. Things were feeling fun and I was so excited to give her a fun toddler room!

Unfortunately I got a little stuck and after some shifting around of furniture to move her bed into the basement guest room, we were left with this...

Yup, still no curtains and the whole space was feeling very cold and empty. I had been so focused on the wedding and other endeavours previously, that Halle's room (and most of the house for that matter) got put onto the back burner. 

So, as our visitors were getting ready to leave back in October, I began searching for inspiration on ways to pretty up Halle's room on a budget. I already knew I wanted to switch the position of her dresser and shelves with her crib and canvas, and I planned on buying her some curtains using an IKEA gift card I had received for a wedding shower gift. But how could I add some fun to the space without spending anything? Finally, I found my inspiration on the Anthropologie website!

The Coppered Plume Wallpaper was gorgeous, but way out of our price range at $198 a roll. I decided to try my hand at drawing them, so to warm up I drew a few sketches one night after Halle went to bed (my most productive hours)...

The sketches had me feeling pretty confident that I could figure something out on her wall myself. So, the Wednesday after everyone left, I decided to try it out. I grabbed some metallic gold acrylic paint I had on hand, a couple of paint brushes and an old egg carton and got to work.

For my very first go, I started using pencil. I then realized that whole process would take forever, and you would probably be able to see the pencil lines through the gold paint, so I decided to freehand everything. Still time consuming, but totally worth it.

The first plume, was by no means perfect... but really none of them are. The great part is there are so many scattered across the wall and each plume allows for a little imperfection. I found as I went my technique improved quite a bit, which was good - the one's right over Halle's crib are some of my favourite's!

The whole process was still totally time consuming. In a week and half I was barely halfway done the room! I also had to get B's help to move the dresser off of the wall and move her shelves to their new home on the other side of the room so that I could make my way into the opposite corner. I finally finished everything off in here on 7th of this month, which means it took me almost a month and a half to get it all done. But here is Halle's room now...

I need to style her shelves with some special items, but B needs to add a few more anchors to the top shelf before I can do it. I also have some plans for her room that I want to tackle in the New Year (there is a list coming in January!). For now, I'm feeling happy with the progress, and I'm glad I finished painting before Christmas!

Her room is far from finished, but I love the softness that the curtains and feather's bring to the room. A new light fixture and big girl bed/bedding are definitely in the cards for the new year! For now it's come a long way from that pink place we started with back in May...

Have you ever attempted paint anything by hand on your walls at home? Or maybe at somebody else's home? I'd love to hear about your experience! Leave any links in the comment section to any projects you've tackled!