So we have this big empty, unfinished basement.
There is one huge wall, spanning 30 feet long. It's concrete, lightly white washed, and super gross.
So we decided to do something about it!
We loved how this project turned out and documented the process so you can make your own magical birch tree forest mural, too! It would also look great on a small, accent wall or in two-tone colors.
First, we hit up Home Depot for some Frog Tape, brushes, rollers, masks (to protect little cryings), and paint. We scored a great gray all-in-one primer and paint by Behr in the "oops section." Only $15 for a gallon of high-quality paint!
We used the Frog Tape to create the edges of the trees, leaving the white-washed wall as the actual tree, using all those imperfections and holes in the concrete to our advantage. We also put tape up where we wanted branches.
With an exacto knife, we cut alongside down the edge of each tree, letting our hand wave slightly, and pulling off the excess tape. Because trees obviously aren't exactly straight up and down, this helped it look a little more realistic. Then, Chas did an amazing job of using the exacto knife to cut out the shape of each branch from the tape.
With all the tape in place, we ran our hands along the edges, pressing firmly into the concrete to help really seal the deal.
(Click here for pictures of just the wall and tape up.)
Next came the paint!
This is what the wall looked like after applying just one coat of our paint.
We didn't really know what to expect with a dirty, unprimed concrete surface but other than taking extra care to fill in all the little random holes, there was no problem!
The best part was peeling off all the tape. This was when we could really start to see our vision come together and it actually start to look like something!
The final step was adding the details to all the trees.
With a small paint brush, I carefully painted all the little horizontal line and knot hole details.
The whole wall looks like this:
(That's 18 trees total, folks.)
And, of course, we had to include this on one of the trees.
(Chas' idea.)
I can't tell you how much fun we had working on this mural.
It felt so invigorating and refreshing to have a big, creative project in process that we could both work on together. So, so much more fulfilling than watching a movie together or even, dare I say...eating cheeseburgers and onion rings at Hires?!
Yup. I went there.
We love how it turned out. Really love.
Now, instead of a basement, we "go down to the forest" to do our laundry.
And sometimes (every day since it's been finished), we go down just to stand and look in amazement at what we accomplished together. We're pretty proud of ourselves.
Eventually, we'll get a huge rug to put down there and create a big play room area for little cryings.
But for now, it's just our magical forest...
and occasionally ping-pong happens in the forest as well.
36 comments:
I really LOVE LOVE LOOOOOVVVE it! I might even steal the idea for our nursery. I've been wanting to paint a tree and just love how these came out.
This is awesome! I have been waiting for you to tell us more since your last post with a peek! Looks amazeballs!!!! I adore it.
Cheers,
Messy
First, awesome. Second, how jealous am I that you have a basement? B. and I live in a basement. One day I hope we'll be above ground with everyone else!
This is magical!! I would love something like this in my bedroom!!
Your magical forest is beautiful! You should be proud! :) x
This looks so great! What a creative idea - it's such an improvement!
That's fantastic! I love it!
I just love it too!
I loveeeee IT!
that is such a great idea. it's so classy and just plain fun. it looks like a lot of work, though!
cuuuute!! come do that at my apt?! thanks!
this is literally incredible beyond words. go girl go.
xo
Sam, what a fabulous idea! It looks GREAT! Way to go - and hooray for fun projects that you can do together = twice the accomplishment feeling! :-)
This is wonderful!! Love it. PINNING.
That is SO awesome! I love, love, love it!
this is so pretty!! especially the adorable carved tree. how romantic!
http://scribblesbya.blogspot.com/
looks amazing. love the part where you "carved" out your initals in the tree. You will have to add cryings initals there soon.
This is flippen amazing! I am absolutely in love with it. Well done!
Rad!!!!!
This totally rocks. Hub and I have talked about making a wall of trees somewhere in our house, but couldn't figure out how to do it. Thanks for the tips. Looks fab!
The mural looks FANTASTIC, but I must say, when I read "we go down just to stand and look in amazement at what we accomplished together", I couldn't help but think of the day (very soon!) when you two will be saying that exact same thing about the sweet little baby looking back at you!
I've been anxiously waiting to see this since you posted the preview last week! I LOVE how it turned out! White trees are my favorite! Nice work you two! :)
caleyparkdesigns.blogspot.com
looks amazing! you artists!
Looks awesome!
This is sooo cool! The details are fantastic! Perfect for an unfinished basement although I could see this fitting well in any room :)
This is so amazing! It reallly does look so beautiful!
that is super cute :) so perfect for a little playroom. good for you guys!
Oh my word this is so beautiful!!
Oh wow, this is awesome! I am definitely pinning this to my home decor board.
Michele
www.shortgirllongisland.com
this is so fun! what a great memory & project to share!
this is so fun! what a great memory & project to share!
Wow, your basement looks immense :) Such a lovely idea!
Hello I am a new follower
Stacie xo
Curious Damsel
That looks fantastic! You had a lot more patience than I did on my tree mural - I only ended up painting 4 of them :)
Would love your thoughts on my birch tree mural which I painted for my 2 yr old son's room:
http://simplynamoured.blogspot.com/2012/03/room-tour-noahs-room.html
That looks great! Patience is really a virtue 'cause you did every single detail on those knot holes and tree lines that were, if i may say a LOT! OMG! If I'm going to make something like this, I think I would choose the smallest wall area there is so I won't have to paint as much as you did. Haha!
Clinton Hurlburt
I just painted a Birch Wall in my bathroom and linked back to you as my inspiration! Thanks for the post it helped a ton while doing mine!
-Brittany of Faded Furnishings
http://fadedfurnishings.blogspot.com/2013/11/painted-birch-tree-wall.html
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