Nursery Projects - Part 2

For project number 2 I wanted a cherry tree in full blossom hanging over the baby's crib. For those of you not familiar with the cherry blossom trees around the tidal basin in DC. They are incredibly gorgeous for a few weeks a year. They rim the tidal basin near the Jefferson memorial and around the National Mall, but can also be found around the city. Cherry blossom season was one of my favorite times in DC. However, in the winter the trees are rather gnarly looking as they have these knotty, twisty trunks. Brent says there is a lesson in there somewhere about inner beauty and we tried to recreate that here.

In my last Nursery post I detailed my struggles with the flower wall art. With that in mind, I was pretty worried about the planned tree mural. I had originally considered just buying this decal instead to create our cherry blossom tree, but balked at the price and a little at its angularity. You see, I don't really paint and have very low confidence in any drawing related tasks. That said, I have great confidence in my friends in family so we forged ahead.

My mom, after some serious study of cherry trees online and in my books, came to help with step one - the tree. First, she drew a sample on paper which was awesome. Then, she moved on to the real deal. She traced the shape on the wall and together we traced it with the darkest shade of brown acrylic paint. I could still hear my first grade teach insisting "trace then color please," so we did. After layer one dried, we filled in with the medium brown. Finally, my mom added some after some lighter highlights and darker bits for added dimension. (We got some of our inspiration from a related project I saw here).

Phase two was time for blossoms! I had a couple colors of pink paint and plenty of white. Chrissie and I each took some paint, did a little blending and jumped right in. The blossoms we each made were quite different, but somehow it looks great having the mix of them all on the same tree. Eric helped with those at the tippy top and tried to mimic both our styles for us. (Through both phases, B practiced his painting with water on the various ladders around the room).

I LOVE the result. It is gentle, calm and wonderful. Originally, this was to be the first of many blossom painting sessions, but now I'm thinking of letting it be. I can't decide. We could definitely do more. It is quick and easy and the real trees are just think with flowers. I do think I want a few trailing white blossoms. That said, it is just incredible as is so I'm tempted to meddle as little as possible as I do have a tendency (from my father probably) to over do. What do you think? I am so incredibly happy with how this turned out. Ultimately the crib will be centered on the wall so some of the branches will be hanging over it and we may put her name (yet to be decided) in the branches too.

There are a couple more areas of the room under construction still, so look for a few more posts before we have a final project. It doesn't quite look like a nursery in there just now as it is being used for a variety of other things (playroom, guest room, storage, etc...) but it is getting closer and that feels great! Thanks to Mom, Chrissie, Eric, B, and Brent for all your help with this beautiful tree. Having helpers made all the difference as I, quite literally, could never have done it without you!