Hill to DIY on Harper's Room Part 1: Floral Wall Mural

I usually like to wait until I finish a room before I start making posts about it; however, I decided to do things a little differently this time. Let's talk Harper's room. 

Harper's room, formally known as the guest room, had a long journey. 

This is what the room looked like when we first moved in. As you can see, there was a floor to ceiling bookcase that I am sure was very functional to the home's previous owner. Very quickly I took that down and moved it to our room, which is much bigger than this room. 

If I ever get to decorating the master bedroom (and let's be honest, that's always the most neglected room in the house) I will show you the bigger picture for how that looks, and more detailed steps for how I put those shelves up. I am proud to say I put those up two years ago and they are still standing, books and all. 

I didn't take a before makeover, after bookcase picture because I wasn't blogging at the time. But here is a very blurry shaky video. 

It was a mess. The yellow shag carpet didn't match the rest of the carpet in the room. The wall was also painted a different color and had a lot of holes and nicks and dents and marks. (If you say nicks and dents and marks quickly, it sounds like you are beatboxing). The video also revealed that this was our storage room. I also took down the popcorn ceiling, which is only pretty when it is painted. 

I replaced the yellow carpet with carpet from our closet (we kept having plumbing leaks and I was tired of my clothes smelling like mildew) and eventually painted the ceiling. 

Aaron painted the ceiling a second coat, painted three of the walls grey (Mr. Kitty by Valspar) and one wall white (Bubble Bath by Valspar).

I really wanted an accent wall. I was considering wallpaper, but it was out of my budget, so I decided to do a mural. Here's a couple of examples of what I was going for.

Using a projector to make a mural

I saved a picture of a wallpaper I liked on my phone and edited the saturation and contrast so I could clearly see the flowers when I projected it on the wall. 

I then zoomed in on the picture and did different sections at a time. I also measured the flowers on the wall to make sure they were the size I wanted.

I used a pencil to trace the flowers. I would recommend chalk as the pencil showed through the paint. 

With an array of acrylic paint and brushes, I started to paint the flowers. 

Layer after layer after layer. It took a couple of weeks because I was really trying to take my time with it. I also decided to outline the flowers, since the pencil marks were showing through. Ultimately I want this room to have a story book theme to it, and this wall reminds me of a sketchbook. 

You guys, I love how this wall turned out! This was my first project for Harper and I am so excited for the rest of the room to come out. 

Ollie loves to go into Harper's room and play. It's already one way of including Harper in our family.