nursery on a budget

Cheery Nursery Decorating

By Kathy Woodard

Do your kids love those self stick character wall decorations, but you think Mickey Mouse just floating in the air doesn't quite cut it? A great way to integrate such wall décor is to create a mural type background for them to "live" in. It is easier than you think, anyone can do this!

Make a quick drawing of a simple scene, a favorite is a grassy area with a big tree, clouds, sun, flowers, etc Remember this is a child's room, you don't need to be an artist. Simple is the key, and these are all very simple shapes!

Paint the wall (or walls) a pastel background color, blue works great to indicate sky, but any pastel color will give the illusion, after all, the sky is not always blue! You don't have to do this treatment to all the walls, often one is sufficient to add great impact!

Use a pencil to lightly sketch in the larger areas, just to get a perspective. Try to have furniture in its final position, so that it will appear part of the scene.

Use either leftover latex paint, or acrylic craft paint, and go for it! Remember, the idea is to make it look like a child's drawing, so again, if you could paint in kindergarten, you can do this!

Remember to let one color dry before you paint with another, and thin the paint with water if necessary to make it flow smoothly. It may take a couple of coats on the larger areas.

You may want to outline or accent later with paint pens, or you can add more dimension and detail by cutting objects from colored adhesive tape or contact paper, and adding them to the scene. Some good ideas are apples for the tree, tulip or daisy flowers, leaves, fence posts (wood grain contact paper is great for this) etc..

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The last step is to simply add your self stick characters to the scene! Wait a day or two for the paint to dry really well first, and don't feel you have to use the characters at all, you may like the room on it's own!

Finally, if you can't paint because you're a renter, you can cut the tree from pieces of posterboard, and stick to the wall with poster putty.

Cut the clouds out of white contact paper, and outline them with a black marker BEFORE you put them on the wall.

Simple flower shapes can be cut out of colored and printed contact, and stems and leaves can be made out of green adhesive tape. If you can't find colored tape, try markers, or call a teacher supply store for the bright primary contact paper.

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