Just this weekend (with some help) we finally finished the bamboo forest that graces a wall in Ewan’s room.
While this wasn’t a terribly difficult project. It was tedious and it took a long time. (We started it nearly two months ago.) There was a lot of tracing and a lot of cutting. Hours of both. With the one toddler about it was slow going, with the toddler and babe it was even slower.
Despite the fact that it took so.very.long I couldn’t be happier with the results. It is a great, easily-removable, solution to spruce up the space. And, bonus, Ewan loves it! (So do I.)
Want to give it a whirl yourself? Here’s how:
Materials
- Sign Vinyl (We used this. It has a nice matte finish. It sticks well. It removes without leaving any residue.)
- Large Paper
- Rigid, Transparent Placemat(s)
- Permanent Marker
- Scissors
Directions
- Start by sketching out your design. I did this, at first, in a small sketchbook just to get an idea of what I wanted.
- Transform the design into a full-size sketch on large paper.
- Place the transparent/translucent placemat over the large sketch and trace the shapes.
- Using a heavy-duty scissors, cut the shapes out of the placemat material. You can skip using the placemat and just use the paper, if you desire. The placemat helped us to make rigid pieces that could be used and traced many, many times.
(Pictured is a sample of our templates – stem, trunk, leaf)
- Using the templates trace the pieces of the decal, in the desired quantities, onto the sign vinyl.
- Cut out the decals.
- Decide on the location and arrangement of your decals. Peel and stick to the wall. Make your best effort to apply them in the correct position the first time. These can be peeled off and re-positioned, but they do lose some staying power in the process.
(The panda was a special addition, drawn by one of his Grandmas. Grandma Sue.)
Voila. You have yourself some spiffy new wall decals. Put up just a few (I’m thinking about birds flying in our bathroom) or do a whole wall like we did. Either way, show me if you give it a try!
