Mural progress

After two days of painting, our pop art fabric inspired mural is coming along nicely.

Retro Babies

All right. You caught me. It's been a long time since I've posted here. In my defense, I accidentally ended up pregnant and with 4 monbths of terrible morning (noon, and night) sickness. Boy, I never thought making a person would be so much work. Alas, my favorite guest room is now going to have to be turned into a nursery.

Don't worry. Just because there's a baby on the way, doesn't mean I'm suddenly into gingham and pastels. It takes more work, but it is possible to have a retro- fabulous baby room. So, once it was clear that this pregnancy was going to stick, I started flipping through my vintage decorating books. My discovery? If you want an awesome retro kids' room, the 1970s hold the key. It was the era of bright colors and wall murals. Sold!

But what on earth should I paint? The room has bright red carpet and is teeny tiny. Not easy to decorate around. Unless you're a kid. My friend Jenny found an awesome retro kids fabric (pictured) called Alexander Henry's 2-D zoo. Voila. Mural inspiration had. What kid won't like floor to ceiling jungle animals?

I've already moved the furniture out of the room and put a base coat of bright white on three walls. I have one accent wall of red (to match the carpet). The plan is to harang my mom into coming over later this week to help me paint the animals. I'm also painting a palm tree in each corner of the room, with leaves that reach onto the ceiling.

This is my first mural, but I'm armed with an opaque projector to enlarge the animals, a box of paints, and a willing mom to help out. Keep your fingers crossed!

Everyone needs a mermaid...

This lovely lady now hangs over the shower in my main bathroom. OK. I admit it. She's a reproduction. A lady named Sandy makes these from molds she's cast for vintage chalkware from the '40s and '50s. Check her out. She's got everything, and she will custom paint them to match your decor.

Vintage chalkware pin-ups

Ta-dah! Hawaii at home

Well, the walls are painted.The comforter is stuffed with down, the knick knacks are on the shelves and I revamped the dresser. The Hawaii room is for the most part, finished.

The dresser, a vintage 1960s model, was a hand-me down from my grandpa. I repainted it in a color close to its original, just to give it a bit of new life and to cover all of the stains. I found the mirror above it at the Habitat for Humanity store and painted the frame, so it at least looks like it matches the dresser.

I painted the walls and ceiling the sandy color that matches the neutrals in the comforter. It's a little dark, but hey, a lot of that has to do with the lack of windows.

The knick-knack shelf, also inherited from grandpa, holds some of my tiki stuff, plus three geisha girl statues and a large ceramic chicken that used to be my grandma's favorites. (She died last summer, sniff.) The girlie statute was made by this lady Sandy who does custom reproductions of all kinds of cool 1950s chalkware. She did a great job.

All in all, it's my favorite guest room. The bed is the softest in the house and it's very cozy, despite it's small size.

Target to the rescue

I found the perfect comforter for the red guest room. It was so perfect I squeaked when I saw it. The red flower matched the carpet perfectly, and the comforter, which is tropical, has set the entire theme for the room.

It's now going to be-- the envelope please-- the Hawaii room! Yay!

On the way home, I took the pillow sham into Lowes to try to find a paint chip for the walls. There is a sandy beige color in the comforter that will look great on the walls. At least I'm pretty sure. So off to work, transforming what was a pretty depressing room, into a tropical destination.