Dining Room Makeover: Hand-painted Trees

Have you ever... 

walked in a room that needed a makeover? I have.

The "room" and I haven't been getting along for some time now because I just haven't known what to do with it, but one morning I woke up ready for battle.  It looked like poop and smelled like throw up -  ugly, dirty poop and a horrid throw up bowl stench as if it were chanting, "C'mon, show me what you've got!"  I decided it was time for a dining room makeover.

I grabbed my armor - paint brushes, sheet, paint, and Pandora- and I was ready for battle. (Thankfully, I already had my battle clothes on since they double as "Mom" clothes most days. And by most, I probably mean every. Don't even judge...you do it too.)

Grab your barf bags and get ready for the ugly...

Okay, I admit that it isn't horrible to some people... but I knew it could be way better so it was to me.  Ugly might as well be spelled b-o-r-i-n-g, and that word is forbidden in my home decor vocabulary.  The holes are from shelves I had up for the last year or so that made me super nervous because of the kids, so I took them down.  I really wanted to stay away from anything sticking out of the wall back there behind the chairs.  That pretty much leaves only the wall to work with.. just in case you were confused.

I did put the shelves back up for Easter lunch and threw some little DIY Coke bottle vases with fresh flowers for some pretty scenery on there...

I needed something different, plain and simple. 

So I decided to go with a tree, because obviously that's what people do in their dining rooms... they have trees in there.  And naturally, the tree should be white. 

I painted the tree trunk and then added the branches.  I placed the main branch across the wall to cover where the holes were.  (I ended up fixing this later because it is so much thicker than the others.)

I started painting the leaves next.

More leaves... crazy leaves everywhere...

This leaf painting is out of control... so crazy... can't stop the craziness...

Did you notice the weirdo, way-too-mature tree branch up there and a few of those hormone-fed leaves?

I dug through the old paints and found the original gray. Much to my eternal happiness, it blended in with the existing wall color and I was able to fix those. 

(Whew! I was about to retreat.)

POW. BAM. TKO. 

Can you see the difference?

Moving on to a nice little leaf/branch tribute...

la

dee da

Here is what it looks like now.

I have a glass blower and some wax in my kitchen so I made these vases and candles while I waited for the paint to dry.

I know what you are thinking.  It's a gift.

After I finished this wall, I decided to do a smaller wall on the other side of the room. 

So there you have it- 

dining room walls vs. me.

I like to think I won. :)

                                                                                         -Stacey