I LOVE birch trees. I LOVE to mix things up at home. I had a really cool birch tree painting that I made from birch tree Wallies (wallpaper decals shown below) and a large canvas. It was awesome, but not big enough for the space, so I gifted it to a good friend.
In it's place I put a HUGE canvas from IKEA. It was the perfect size, but not the exact colors I wanted.
I started painting the dark brown a navy blue and realized I was out of my league. I have no idea how to remove latex paint off of a printed on canvas, but if you know, and would like it, let me know. It's deconstructed in my basement. When assembled it is 78" wide and 55" tall.
So I went back to my original idea of birch trees and decided to paint the whole wall. I started with the same base I had on my canvas: 3 colors of really dark blue mottled together. I think I started with the lightest and moved to the darkest. I used a skinny sponge brush so it wouldn't have the best coverage, which is exactly the look I was going for.
I then used some leftover "Wallies" to determine how many trees I wanted. I have 2 to the left of the doorway (mostly hidden behind a book case) and 5 on the other side. Odd numbers are always best. I used a roller and off-white paint to create the trees. They are very similar in width, so I tried to vary the angle they were leaning (if at all) and made at least one a little bigger. Then I used a small paint brush to make a couple of branches, and followed up with shadow in a medium gray. I used a really dark gray to do the birch markings.
I had asked my mom if she would help, but then decided to do it on my own. Her trees would have been MUCH more realistic, so she would have had to do them all. Mine are very simplified, but I still like them. If you need a realistic wall mural, I will happily pass on my mother's phone number.
I'm not done with my living room remodel. I want a new sofa and love seat. At least a new sofa. I love this one, and had decided on a gray fabric, but now I'm wondering if the green it is shown in would be a better fit.
I've never been scared of color, so I should just pull the trigger when the budget allows. And I was set on a matching love seat to the sofa until these damned modern wing backs from Aceray (one of the companies I represent) were introduced.
Now I am seriously thinking about covering 2 of them in this fabric from Carnegie (another company I represent). It has the green, teal, and navy that I have in my design scheme as well as Nanotex, a commercial stain resistant finish. With dogs and kids, I can't get much more reliable than contract fabric over contract furniture.
This is exactly why my house will never truly be "finished". I know something new and better will be right around the corner....something I love even better. And my budget does not allow for me to change things up as much as I'd like, or buy whatever I want. For now, I am happy enough with my really old couch (usually covered up) and my crappy velvet wing back chair from Target. (And the rug. I searched high and low for a rug whose colors and pattern I loved and had to find one I knew I could clean when the dogs inevitably barfed on it. This indoor/outdoor rug was a perfect find.)
I am hoping by the time I write my next blog post, my kitchen improvement will be completed and I can write about tin ceiling tile as back splash. I can't do anything "normal". If you like what you see, you can review some of my other designs in the form of residential interiors, contract interiors, jewelry and cards on my Facebook page: Elocin Designs. Thanks for taking the time to read this post!
