Welcome To The Jungle

For those of you who don't know..... I am not the most artistic person. I can have these marvelous ideas..... but they never come out like I imagine them. So, years ago I pretty much gave up on any type of decorating. I honestly asked my mother to help me "see" things when we would move and need to set up house again. Well, I got the bug. We moved in the house in April. This time it is ours--- I CAN PAINT!!! Then I remember my fear-- what if it doesn't turn out right-- I mean sure I could repaint it-- but who is to say that it would be any better? Well, I hate the white walls in the house. I feel like I am in a sterile environment. When I say white-- I mean the whitest white you can imagine. On top of that, there is texture. Now, I like texture, but this goes beyond what is normal. Seriously, I have cut my hands on the walls if they bump up against them. It is extremely thick and extremely pointy!! Anyway, I want to do something- but I know I need to start small. The smallest room in the house is the kids bathroom. I began looking at different shower curtains. I knew I was going to get a new one anyway. We have had the ducks below since Kadyn was 1. It is time for a change!! I found a cute jungle pattern. Still for kids, but not babyish in my opinion. So, I do call my mom. I tell her I have found what I like but I have NO CLUE what to do now. I want to learn.. I don't want to be afraid anymore haha!

She agrees to come help me learn. So--- goodbye to the ducks. Now, Kadyn cried for quite awhile. We had to cut a few ducks out of the shower curtain to put in her photo album. ( yes, I know we are in trouble if she is having this much trouble over ducks... but that would be an entire post of its own). So here is the last time the ducks hung in the bathroom.....



In order to paint, mom said we would have to sand the walls down. This goes back to the ginormous texture on the walls. It is not a big room, so we decided to do it by hand. Here we are with our masks on.... Dylan had to wear one like us.

This is a picture of the bathroom counter-- it is COVERED in paint particles......

After taping the walls, that was all we did on day one. About 2 hours- maybe 3. We would have started painting then, but I had a reading camp I was doing the next day. So, off to bed we went. When I got home the next day, the painting began. Let me tell you-- I LOVED IT!! Mom did a great job of teaching me. I rolled and cut. I did not get a single drop of paint on the ceiling! I was quite proud of myself. We were doing 2 colors -- a dark brown on top, a border in the middle, and then a light brown on bottom. We promised Kadyn she could help roll a bit. This helped her let go of the ducks and embrace the jungle--haha.

The painting was done in about 2 hours. We had plenty of time to get the border up then. However, we had to let the paint dry for 72 hours before putting up the border.
This was on Monday. Thursday evening, mom returned and helped me learn how to do the border. Not as easy as painting... more tedious. But, I loved seeing how it tied the room together. The border is up.... the curtain is hung.... and adventures in the jungle have now begun!!!


So, as we put the finishing touches on, I looked at mom and said-- this matches the image I had in my head. (ok didn't mean for that to rhyme!) I now have the bug. Eric said I did a great job and I can do more in the house!!! YEAH!! However, the other rooms are too big to sand by hand. So, first I will be buying an electric sander.