A Storybook Kids' Room

Here's a tip for all of you out there trying to think of a cute way to decorate your child's room for low $!!!

I was recently trying to think of a nice way to decorate my up and coming daughter's nursery. I really wanted to do something like a Cinderella theme, but all of the accessories I found were so expensive, and to have a mural or wall paper put in the room would cost around $1000.

I decided to go to the local store and find a Cinderella coloring book. I bought one with some nice pictures of her castle, coach, and fairy godmother. I ripped out those pictures and made Xeroxed copies of them onto clear transparency paper. (the type of transparencies you would use for a projector like you used to see in school). I borrowed a projector from work, set it up in the nursery, placed each transparency (one at a time) on the projector, and projected it onto the wall. By projecting the transparencies, I got a full sized, 6 feet tall, coach. And the fairy godmother I set up for 5 feet. (It all depends how close or far you get from the wall). Once it was projected on the wall, I turned the lights off so I could see the picture more clearly, and started tracing the lines of the pictures onto the wall. When I turned the lights back on, I had a perfect coach, fairy godmother, and Cinderella castle!!!

Then, I simply "colored between the lines" with some paints I had chosen from a local craft store. The whole project cost me approximately $25, versus the quoted $1000 for a mural. The coach covers the whole wall, and it really does look like someone came in and professionally painted a mural.

I am planning on doing the same thing in my son's jungle room by projecting some pictures of animals and tracing them onto the wall. All you need to do is find a black and white picture of what you want, Xerox it onto a transparency and project it onto whatever you want to paint!!!

You could even do this on large furniture! By the way, if you can't borrow a projector from work, or a local school, see if you can rent one at the rental places in your area. You will be amazed at what you can do.

Enjoy!!!

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