Although this small section of wall at the bottom of the stairs in Courtney's home was a great place to hang pictures, she was looking for a little more pop. Taking matters into her own hands, she busted out the paint brush, Q-Tips and a little courage and made a change! Who wants to see the results?
Instead of going through the pains and hassle of setting up a projector to give her a hand up in the art department, she skipped the whole sketching step and went straight to the paint. She used paper towels and Q-Tips to help remove paint from certain areas, replicating the look of natural bark.
The end result looks fabulous and cost her pennies instead of big bucks for wallpaper. She shares a great deal of her process over at And Then There Was Home | Birch Mural, Entry Redo, including one about not stirring your paint to get a more realistic tree!
Thanks Courtney!
Image: And Then There Was Home
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love it! and free handing the whole thing? awesome.
Free-handing takes courage. Good show!
that looks great!
we painted washed-out gray trees on our entry way wall going up the stairs and we love it!
every year that goes by, the more I understand my mom's rule of no family pictures in the entry/living room. Very well done.
That looks fantastic!
Over Christmas, you can use 3M hooks to 'hang' ornaments off the trees!
very impressive!
I think it looks really nice! But... this is almost the same tree image that was torn up a few months ago as plagiarizing someone else's art work (http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/la/at-australia/designed-or-deceived-119563)? I know there's the whole thing about not making money off of it/personal use, but I just wanted to point out I thinkg it's funny that it's the same look.
Marianne: i think the difference is that the other was copied and sold as their own, whereas this was just copied for personal use..
nice job!
@mariannet- the same because it's birch trees? this design is free hand and the shading & overlapping gives it a more realistic look, while the images in the link posted are more graphic, have birds, and are wall stickers. and as the first person on that link posted, is the original really that original? birch trees are very popular in design right now, so you see them lots of places... really don't see the connection.
I like the big fuzzy autumn leaf colored caterpillar climbing up the stairs, and his little brother on the other side. Nice curly tail, too. Seriously, I love the painting and who cares if it's a take off on the birch tree wall paper? Nature is full of birch trees. They're there for the taking, inspiration, that is.
Great job, it looks amazing especially for a free-hand design. Kudos!
I'm more intrigued that she hung her family photos SIDEWAYS. Is this a trend I don't know about?
@creative license: haha, my thought too! I also enjoy the frame that has no mat, just the cardboard backing (although there are a few others that seem to just have white paper backing?!).
Lovely job on the freehand though, that's gutsy!
well done freehanding the trees but i really don't like it. not that the before was better but it's just not really an improvement in my eyes. a blank wall with 1 small artwork would have been nicer... or a end table with a tall vase.... i dunno maybe it's the stuff on the end of the stair railings. :S
I have to agree with amandad2, what's with the stuff at the end of the rails, caterpillars :/
Otherwise, it looks great. Can't believe you did it all by hand, congrats.
Thanks for posting the mural, Sarah!
-Courtney @ AndThenThereWasHome.blogspot.com
I wasn't saying I have a problem with it being the same image, in fact I pointed out that I thought it was amusing that nearly the same overlapping birch trees were once boo-hooed by everyone as rip offs and now it's lovely. I agree that it looks lovely. I was just laughing to myself about it and pointed it out to be more silly than anything else. No offense was intended, so seriously... cool off folks... It's a design blog... haha... right? See the humor in everything? Because I do.
how the heck we end up accusing people of plagiarism for painting birch trees? thay are really in now, many people have these images at home. Nature will sue as all for copying her
Make sure you head over to And Then There Was Home, Courtney has posted up the wall with a few more decorations. It's a great mix of frames, murals and furniture!
Wow, it looks great once the bench and photo's are added to the wall.
awesome!