At my request, Design Your Wall provided me with the Avalon mural for this project. All opinions are 100% my own.
Happy Monday! I am so excited to share with you some progress in the playroom. As you may recall, several of my friends and are are working on rooms in our homes as part of Fall In Love. You can search instagram with the hashtag #FallInLoveRoom to see others’ progress- it’s been so much fun and I’m so glad there was a fire lit under my you know where!
I’ve been working on the playroom, and shared the last update here. Since then, I’ve gotten quite a bit done and will be sharing even more later this week. For now I want to share the wall that was once our map wall. The maps were cool, but they were a temporary fix and I was tired of pinning them back up all the time, and wanted something more permanent. This playroom makeover is “inspired by” several fantasy books, without being themey (at least I hope it’s not!). One of those books is The Chronicles of Narnia; you knew I would love it with its fun woodland creatures and beautiful woodland setting, right? When I saw the Avalon wallpaper mural from Design Your Wall, I knew it was the perfect solution for that wall. I contacted them to see if they would be willing to send it to me, and was thrilled when they said yes. It arrived in a nice compact box, rolled up and ready, and included the paste.
I was not exactly sure of what my plan was for that wall, but knew I’d figure it out when it arrived. It was a little too short to cover the entire wall, and we have a very oddly placed door to a storage room. Here’s the wall I was working with once it had been primed.
After the wall was primed I agonized over what to do…. where to put the paper…. My friend Katja and her amazing photoshop skills to the rescue! She was able to help me see the different ideas I had, and eventually I decided on wallpapering the door.
The paste is a dissolvable granule type substance. I followed the instructions and mixed it with cold water, cutting it down by 1/4 since I was only using 1/4 of the paper on that door. Once it was mixed, I let it sit for 20 minutes per instructions. Once it was ready, I used a paint brush to apply a thin coat to the door. (FYI, I don’t have process pictures because I was doing this alone and working fast!) I began with the piece at the bottom (The wallpaper was sectioned in 4 8 panels, 4 top and 4 bottom). I didn’t worry about trimming it and just lined up one side, with the panel being slightly wider than the door. I knew I could trim it once it was all mounted in place. Once the bottom panel was secure I mounted the top panel, lining it up carefully. I used a large metal spatula to smooth everything out and get out air bubbles as I worked. The last step was using a razor to trim the edges.
A couple of things I earned in the process…
Many of the air bubbles will smooth themselves out as they dry- get it as smooth as you can, but don’t kill yourself over it.
It’s best to trim the paper once it has dried completely. While it’s still damp, it can tear. Don’t ask me how I know.
Perfection is over rated.
Now, once it was all set, I had to figure out what to do with that primed wall.
I didn’t have the same paint as the rest of the walls, and this was a big space, so I didn’t want to paint the entire room (which is more like two rooms open to each other). I loved the idea of a black wall, and of course I had already added one chalkboard wall in the playroom, but it was in the other half of the space and wasn’t reachable for kid drawing. So I decided to add another which had tons of room for them to express themselves! I applied two coats of Rustoleum chalkboard paint, allowed it to cure, and then let them have at it!
As of now the wall is much improved with its portal to Narnia and chalkboard wall!
As you can see the kids have been enjoying the wall.
Sawyer has claimed the left side and has been drawing all things Star Wars related…
And Emmy has been doodling on the other side, and leaving me sweet messages. See that big heart with “I love you, mom”? It’s the first thing I see as I walk down the stares and makes me smile!
Now, I want to show you the details of the mural. The bottom part is my favorite, as I am a sucker for fern blanketed forest floors….
And here you can see the edge I trimmed once it was dry came out nice and straight. (The edge ad the top had a small tear due to me trying to trim when still damp). And yes, that door knob is ugly and could stand to go, but let’s be real, guys. This is a playroom for a 7 and 9 year old and there’s no urgent need for beautiful knobs.
I am thrilled with how this space is coming along, Sawyer is thrilled that he has new comfy chairs (awesome vintage craigslist chairs!), and both kids are excited to have their own wall to write all over!
I’ve got another project to share from the playroom this week, and another I hope to start that I just added to the plan….. so it might not make the deadline since we are revealing next week. But guess what, if I don’t make the deadline? (This image was found here and edited for my blog).
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