Bringing the trees indoors!

My youngest daughter, Morgan, has always been a girl who lived in her own world of make believe.  From a very young age she would fantasize about all things magical and mythical!  That's why it wasn't a shock to anyone that when she got married, she wanted a fairy tale wedding surrounded by the forest and gnomes.

 Here's a glimpse into her style.  I'll be honest, when she started explaining about the wedding of her dreams, I couldn't picture it!   It ended up being one of the most magical and special days of my life.

She and her husband, Ryan, recently moved into a great home.  Morgan wanted to add some details that would represent her style.  She asked me to paint some trees on her living room wall.  I've painted trees before, like I showed you here and here.  The trees in this room needed to be more realistic.  Her plan was to hang pictures from their wedding from some of the branches.

I decided to paint these trees freehand.   Remember, I'm far from an artist.  If you look closely at the picture above, I took a pencil and drew the basic lines of the trunks.  This allowed me to get the spacing right.  After that,  I added limbs and branches.  I tried to keep in mind that trees don't grow perfectly and growing this close together would overlap and intertwine.  I stepped back occasionally to make certain they looked right.

You can see in this picture part of her display of gnomes on the fireplace mantle.  After I finished the trees, she painted her frames black and hung wedding pictures from the "branches".

Once again, here's a project that doesn't cost anything if you already have the paint.  If you'd like to add some fun detail to your walls, consider painting an easy mural like this.  It's simple to paint over when you move or if you're ready for something new!