Forest Room Makeover for New Critter in Mobile

by Stephanie Goins on March 20, 2013

tree stencils wall

Recently, Stephanie Goins of My Wonderful Walls chatted with Chris and Kristin of Mobile, Alabama to talk about their recent bedroom makeover for the room of six-month-old daughter, Brianna.

Stephanie: What product did you purchase and why?

C & K: We purchased the Forest Friends Stencil Kit. This was a very gender neutral kit that could be used for either a boy or girl depending upon the background wall color. We also liked how the animals were not too masculine, nor were they too feminine.

Stephanie: What was your child's reaction to the wall mural when she first saw it?

C & K: Brianna is still too young to have a specific reaction to the room. However, our 2-year-old daughter really likes the forest room and enjoys naming the different animals on the walls.

Stephanie: Why did you choose wall stencils over wall stickers?

C & K: We chose the stencil kit over stickers simply because it shows that we put time and energy into making our daughter’s room unique. The stencils allowed us to choose our own colors for the animals and it provided the flexibility to make additional stencils if we wanted to add additional characters.

Stephanie: Describe your artistic comfort level.

C & K: I am not a good artist. However, this kit allowed me to personally paint professional-looking animals and scenes which would have been otherwise unattainable with my comfort level. The kit is well worth any energy or time that it may take to complete the project, especially when you realize that you can give your child a room that all of their friends and friends’ parents will talk about when they see it for years to come.

Stephanie: What was the best part of the experience?

C & K: Honestly, the best part about the mural painting experience was when I was finished painting the room. The final result was fantastic and I’m very proud of the way the room looks. I am also glad that I could give my daughter such a nice room that she will hopefully enjoy for many years.

Stephanie: Did your textured walls make the project challenging?

C & K: Since the kits are not necessarily designed for use on walls with texture, I had bleeding around the edges. To correct this, I used several fine point artist brushes and retraced the outside edges.  This caused me to have more hours than what would have been required had our walls been flat. The kit is well worth any energy or time that it may take to complete the project, especially when you realize that you can give your child a room that all of their friends/friend’s parents will talk about when they see it for years to come.

Stephanie: Did you add any personal touches to the standard wall mural you received?

C & K: I added her name to the wall sign by finding a script in MS Word that I really like (I believe it was French Script). I then had a local sign shop cut a reverse vinyl decal which I used as my stencil. I’m really happy with the final look of her name on the sign. Using the sign stencil and placing my daughter’s name on it really symbolizes that it is my daughter’s room to me.  I guess since I finished the room just before she was born, it really drove home the fact that I would have another member of the family…and this was her room.

Stephanie:Do you have any helpful tips for people who will paint with our stencils?

C &
K: Follow the instructions. When using the same stencil multiple times (leaves/flowers, etc), I found it helpful to wipe off the excess as soon as I removed it from the wall. However, I used a plain paper towel and did not wet it. I found that wetting the paper towel would cause any paint on there to be transplanted to the wall if the stencil was not properly cleaned prior to moving on to the next stencil. Also, as I mentioned before, I had troubles with bleeding around the edges of the stencils due to texture (i.e. orange peel) which is sprayed on the surfaces of my walls. This is fairly common in newer homes, and it was a bit of a pain to retrace each stencil with the primary wall color after it had dried. However, the end results were well worth any headache or difficulties I may have experienced along the way.

 pink baby room

tree wall mural

forest tree wall mural

 

BACK TO TOP