Lissa Anglin • Part of Me Blog

Art, décor, family and photography- it's all part of me!

modern baby nursery

Animal Print Wall Mural DIY

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Newborn Penelope in her nursery. Design by Dru Ammons, Photo by Looney Digital, Mural by me!

Newborn Penelope in her nursery. Design by Dru Ammons, Photo by Looney Digital, Mural by me!

A few months ago my friend Dru asked me if I would be interested in creating a wall mural for her new baby’s nursery. I was honored and excited because I love Dru’s style and knew it would be nothing short of chic and cool- go peruse her site HERE- you won’t regret it. So, when she showed me what she was dreaming of- and then told me she was getting a custom neon sign with the baby’s name to go on top, I was ALL IN.

Sweet Penelope is here, and so precious! Beyond any of the decor, she is what makes the room special. It was an honor to get to paint this mural in her room- and I filmed the process so I could take you along with me!

Dru originally showed me an animal print-inspired pattern. We selected these three paint colors after looking at several in the room. (Never, ever just pick a swatch from the wall and order paint without looking at it in the space first! Lighting can completely change the color. It’s also important to view a swatch at different times of the day in the room- light will change from morning to night, and so will the tones of your paint.)

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Once we had our colors down, I experimented with several ways to create the print, and landed on old-school potato printing. I grew up making potato prints with my mom, and it was the perfectly imperfect solution to creating a consistent yet organic feeling to this pattern. In the video, I show you how I cut them to create the pattern.

A finishing touch was the metallic paint I used to create the centers of the print pattern. I used Plaid’s Liquid Leaf paint in gold, though I would call it more of a rose gold. I love this paint and haven’t found one quite as metallic as this one:

Check out the whole process and more detail in my video here:

I am so pleased with the way the mural turned out and appreciate Dru for trusting me with it! Just in case you are wondering, that amazing neon is from Brite Lite Tribe.

Design by Dru Ammons, Photo by Looney Digital, mural by Lissa Anglin

Design by Dru Ammons, Photo by Looney Digital, mural by Lissa Anglin

the baby room - a tour!

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I've been meaning to post a little tour of Knox's room- and finally I put together some finishing touches and it is ready!

To be honest, I had totally selfish motivations with this room. :) I wanted to make a room Shawn and I enjoyed first and foremost- because I know all that Knox will remember are what he sees in pictures. Second, I wanted something very functional for our family, and third- I wanted to create a modern, colorful, yet peaceful space.

I spent a lot of time "researching" on Flickr groups like this one- there are SO many fun and fantastic ideas out there. 

I thought it would be easiest to number everything out- so here goes!

These acorns were hung at my Lubbock baby shower- too cute! I have creative friends. :)

Willy thinks this room is an excellent place for a nap. 

1. Because we have a small room, I wanted a chair that wouldn't take up much visual space. This is the POÄNG chair from Ikea. It is actually very comfortable- and rocks, too!

2. BÖJA floor lamp- also from Ikea.

3. The fish fabric is from the Patty Young Playdate Collection (called "Goldfish"). I found it from a seller on etsy, and my Mom had it made into a dust ruffle for the crib and a pillow for the chair. She also found an old quilt of my grandmother's which matched perfectly! She had the best quilt squares made into a lightweight baby blanket, which you can see hanging over the chair. There are more quilt squares on the reverse side of the pillow. I love the combination of old and new!

1. My sisters and I all received a "head" from our parents for Christmas- filled with the things we like. Mine contains all things knitting. It may make its way into my office later, but for now it has a home on Knox's shelves. 

2. I purchased this old fan for 1.50 at my favorite thrift store.

3. A couple of my vintage cameras.

4. I actually bought these letters before we knew if we were having a boy or girl! They were .25 at Michael's, and I couldn't pass them up- plus I had a pretty strong inclination it was a boy!

5. These are LACK floating shelves from Ikea which I covered in old maps. One of our prayers for this baby is that he will be a good traveler. I also know we'll be able to use the design as he gets older. 

6. Antique piggy bank we received as a gift.

7. One of my shower invitations requested that friends bring a book for Knox's library- which I loved! We got so many special books- old and new. The hostesses also gave us the cutest book stamp- it features a cute robot and says "From the Library of Truett Knox".

 

1. We found these baskets at TJMaxx. They're made of twisted Chinese magazine paper. 

2. This is the scripture that Shawn and I selected as our prayer for Knox. It's really important to us that he grows up seeing, hearing, and speaking scripture.

3. I found these fun albums from Memories for Life Scrapbooks on etsy. You can custom order any name, and have her decorate them for you or do it yourself! This is about as close to a real scrapbook as I get...and soon it will be filled with pictures!

I recently found a donut knitting pattern and have been creating these rattles for the many friends I have who are also having babies. They are so much fun to make!

The paper crane mobile was a very simple and inexpensive project. Shawn and I fished the branch out of our alley, and after painting it white, we folded some paper cranes out of scrapbook paper.

1. About 4 months into my pregnancy, I decided to make a baby blanket. Whoa. It took FOREVER. But I'm happy with the results.

2. Love this elephant from blablakids. It was a gift purchased at My Cup of Tea here in Lubbock.

3. One of my clients sent this purple Scottie dog after I posted about a pregnancy dream in which I birthed a purple dog! I believe it came from Vintage Chenille. So cute!

My super-talented sister gave us this handmade quilt for Christmas. It's so soft and has little "A"'s hidden in the squiggles. I can't wait to use it! (P.S. Layne, you are also super-talented!)

1. This is a SkipHop diaper bag. I didn't want anything too huge. It's packed and ready for the hospital!

2. This rack was given to us and painted the same color as the crib.

3. Knox has been given so many fun hats, shoes, and other clothing! I would feature my faves here but I'd rather get him in them first!

 

One of the things I am excited to use is this Svan bouncer. It's very compact and portable, so we can travel with it and move it around the house easily.

A few more things I'm excited to put to use- swaddle blankets from Aden + Anais, a crinkly noise maker for little hands, our Bum Genius diapers (this is one of the new Elemental designs- thanks Aunt Laynie!), cute pacifiers, and a versatile sling from Seven Slings (thanks Kat!). 

I also love our Sprout Shell! I spotted one at the doctor's office one day and went right home and ordered it. It matches our car seat/stroller and how could we not get the one with guitars?!?

 

Whew! That was quite a bit! We have been given so many wonderful things, and these are just the tip of the iceberg. I expect to be sharing many more of them when this child is actually here! Hope you enjoyed my tour!