In my homeschool family, we have a 15 year old, a 13 year old, a three year old, and a one year old. Babies and toddlers are so fun to decorate for. My tween girl (she was 11 when we began this project) wanted to share a room with my first little guy after he was born, so the less “girly” color that we agreed on was green. I started this project nearly three years ago, and it has been a slow process of little changes here and there. It started off as a unisex room to house a tween girl and baby boy. My daughter has always loved green and brown, and she had no objection to my decision to go with an owl baby room theme. She just made me promise to add a lady bug somewhere in the mix; however, soon after we finished the mural decided she wanted a room of her own. The lady bug was nixed.
Owls have been my favorite since I was a little baby girl, and I hang out in this room quite a bit… so the “green room” is going to be hard to part with.
There used to be a pretty tan suede bedspread, but the three year old painted it with lipstick. {Please ignore the college striped reject spread we are using in its place.} At least we have a few pillows that are kind of cute. I think the fuzzy ones (and the matching green throw) came from Kohl’s. The white patterned one and brown rectangle one came from IKEA.
The owl pictures above the bed are from Mardel. The puffy brown owls above the dresser are from my own nursery in the 1970’s – true vintage (like me). I found a vintage lamp with a bamboo pattern that looks nice, also. Kind of a woodsy shade.
The color on the walls is called ‘Green Onion‘ and I got it at Walmart. It was easy to spread on – and only required one coat. {One coat: my kind of paint.} The rest of the mural colors are sample sizes from Lowe’s. I found the image online (two of my blog friends have used it on their blogs – Passport Academy and Sarah J. Bray (two of the prettiest and sweetest people on the planet). I fell in love with it. It wasn’t owl themed, like I planned, but it was a perfect fit. Originally, it had a park bench, an airplane, and a trash can in the graphic. I printed it out and painted it free hand – but you could possibly trace it by using a projector if you don’t trust yourself to paint something by sight.
For two years, I had hoped to put an owl on one of the trees, but ended up settling for adding owls as accents in the room. Owl stuffed animals, owl pictures, owl paper art, owl figurines, owl books, owl blankets, owl toys. You name it. An owl on the wall was just another owl – and they always say to take one piece of jewelry off before you leave the house so you won’t appear gaudy. I figured I would leave this one owl out of the picture, and it would perfect my masterpiece.
I guess it worked. I’m in love with this room. If I were going to stay in this house, I would probably add some matching sheer curtains pinned up by wooden letters over the window that spelled “Who Who” or something similar. I would also add white crown molding along the ceiling. Something is missing up there.
Besides the fact that this house is so big and roomy – and has a place for all of the things we have collected over the years (namely BOOKS and BOOKS and BOOKS; we are homeschoolers, you know)… I think the green room is going to be the hardest part of this house to leave.
I doubt that the boys will want me to recreate this little art deco forest scene again since my Viking is turning four on his next birthday, and little boys tend to gravitate towards transportation and machinery as they grow. Maybe the next room will have roads and cars, or trains and tracks. You just never know.
Do you have a themed room in your house? A neat design you want to share with me? A lot of homeschool moms are in to creative things like DIY and home decor. Especially since we have to spend more time than most moms in our homes!
Share some of your house with me – I’d love to see what other crafty moms are creating. Inspiration is what Pinterest is all about – and we could all use a dose of it each day! Leave me a comment with a link to your DIY story!
Heather,
I have been struggling with the decision to homeschool or not since our oldest was in Kinddergarten. She will now be in fourth grade! Our kids are 9, 7, 5, 2 1/2, and 8 months. I am scared to death! Scared that I will go crazy. Any advice?
Thanks a ton!
Nicole… I would highly suggest going to a conference, making some IRL friends with homeschool moms who have multiple ages that you admire and trust, and in praying hard. Fear is not of God, so just ask Him to give you the confidence you need. If your husband is supportive, ask him to pray and help you make decisions and plan. Take the leap together. It is a family lifestyle of learning, as natural as raising kids, and if you and God are in it together, you won’t fail. Being home all day with the kids is a different thing than most people in society today are used to. It will require that you have your goals in mind – “why am I doing this?” “where are we headed?” so that when bad days come (as they always do), you won’t give up. Having a support group (the friends you meet while homeschooling are THE BEST) will help you immensely. Keeping the babies busy will require some forethought. I’m struggling with that right now, but it is a short season, and they grow up so fast. Your kids are so young, that you are in the perfect stage to start! Pick up a copy of as many Sally and Clay Clarkson books as you can read this summer. By the time you read through “Educating the WholeHearted Child”, you will be ready to take the leap. If you are in Texas and can make the THSC Homeschool Conference in the first weekend of August, GO! I’ll be there taking pictures. I’d love for you to say Hi… but most of all, listen in on all the great pep talks and sessions by homeschool speakers, encouragers, and curriculum vendors. Priceless advice. If you can’t go to the conference, buy the DVDs of all the talks. Listen to them in the car.
And remember – God doesn’t call the equipped. He equips the called. 😉