Enchanted Forest Bedroom

Little by little we have been working on making Noah's room a more fun, relaxing and beautiful place to be. In doing so, his room began to take on an enchanted forest theme. When he turned a year old, I got this growth chart featuring a big tree and all the little creatures that live in and around it. It is so pretty it doubles as art.
Above his dresser hang three fairytale postcard prints; Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Star Money, and Little Red Riding Hood, all in frames made by Grandpa Ted. Below the prints is our nativity stable, now the home of Little Red's Grandmother and several knitted barnyard animals.

Next to Grandmother's house is a framed watercolor I did of the night sky with Noah's bedtime verse written on it. Behind the watercolor is a plant that is taking on the appearance of a small tree. This slow growing plant (I think it is some kind of bonsai) is virtually indestructible. Over the years, it has often been greatly neglected, going weeks without water and living in rooms with no sunlight. Yet it continues to grow. This past summer I re-potted it and covered the soil with green moss. Then, while on a walk, Noah and I found a little stone just the perfect size for this mini-forest landscape. It looked like the perfect spot for a forest gnome to sit and rest. Months went by, and still no gnome. Well, last night I finally got around to making one. He turned out a little bigger than I had imagined, but he seems comfortable on his mini-forest perch.

Finally, the biggest part of Noah's bedroom makeover happened this weekend. This is something I have been wanting to do for a long time, but Curtis was hard to convince. Actually, I am not sure I ever really succeeded in convincing him. I made an executive decision and just decided we would do it. A little over a month ago we gave it a try, but due to a bad mis-measuring incident, the project was put on hold for a while. Then, Saturday night, while Noah slept in our bedroom, we got to work. Many hours, the 'Mellow' playlist blasting from the speakers, and a box of Lemonade Girl Scout cookies later...

An enchanted forest mural! It is far from perfect, but from a distance I think it looks very nice. This was not a fun project, let me tell you. Despite measuring several times before cutting, the dimensions were still off by an inch on each side: too wide side to side, and too short on the bottom. How did that happen?! It turns out the ceiling is not exactly straight and the paper expanded unequally as we applied the paste and made crazy bubbles. Lets just say that the majority of our conversation during the 4 hours it took to put it up revolved around how much we would have paid to have someone else do it ($300 for me, Curtis was less at $100 - I think he is crazy!) But it was worth it in the end, and Noah's room was transformed into an enchanted forest!

I have more ideas for fun little projects to add to Noah's forest bedroom, but I think I need a little break after this project.

-Jen