As you know, I am knee deep in the remodel of my home office.  In actuality, it’s becoming more of a ‘ladylike library’ and I like that.   Doesn’t ‘library’ sound much more fetching than ‘home office’?  Please indulge me in my brand new fiction.  It’s not a home office, it’s a library.  Shall I pour some tea?

For years, I’ve wanted to incorporate a series of framed botanical prints into some area of my home, and my ‘library’ seemed the perfect place.  I hunted high and low, in used and new bookstores, to find a coffee table book of blooms that I could cut out and frame, much like the designer did for this cover of Home Magazine.  I even resorted to websites offering prints online, but the cost was prohibitive. 

Home Magazine, June 2006

In frustration, I turned to my garden.  I thought if I could photograph some of the lovely white blooms in my own backyard, then perhaps I could make them into something worth framing.  Not a novel concept, but worthwhile nonetheless, and an inexpensive solution.

Here’s a peek at my new wall di

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I was just putting the finishing touches on my staircase and foyer revamp when I noticed a glaring eyesore.  Let’s just say that it wasn’t me who decided to put the control to our home alarm system at perfect eye level, sticking out like one sore thumb.  In my newly upgraded space, it just looked all wrong.  So I decided to cover it with a miniature painting of my own.  When I proposed the idea to Mr. CG, he stated with perfect British inflection, “How very James Bond of you.” 

I recommended these dogwood prints in a mood board for Kelly several months back.  They’ve always stuck in my mind, for their color, and their botanical simplicity.  Unfortunately, they’re a bit of an investment at $288 for the pair. 

So in an attempt to inject a pop of peacock blue into my neutral space, I came up with my own imitation, based on the cherry tree branches that sit in my foyer.  Channeling Van Gogh, I used some acrylic paints leftover from my art classes to create a little work of art .  Here’s my little $5 knockoff. 

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I have a dozen cabinet doors leftover from the old kitchen before our remodel, and I couldn’t bring myself to take them to the salvage yard just yet.  I’m glad I waited, because after I gave it some thought, I came up with a few ideas for repurposing them.  The first idea was to transform two of them into memo boards for my office.

Here’s the Before and After:

I think great fabric makes stylish wall art.  These two memo boards also add practicality, and a place for displaying inspirational images or mementos.  Here they are (unadorned) on my office wall. 

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I am in the process of redoing my five year old daughter’s room, adding a little French garden inspired style to the space.  All of a sudden I was struck with the grand idea to paint a tree on her wall to carry along with the jardin theme.  What’s very strange is I don’t fancy myself a mural artist by any means, I typically shy away from wall murals as a bit “themey” and I rarely decorate with fake flowers.  Which makes it all the more bizarre that I would take upon myself the task of painting a cherry tree mural on my daughter’s wall and then glueing fake blooms to the branches.  Go figure.  But it turned out pretty cute!

My inspiration came from these images:

For the task, I gathered up some supplies including:

Follow up with your artist’s paintbrush to create finer lines around your edges. (It’s also a good idea to have your wall color paint ready in case you absolutely hate it. . . or just want to clean up the edges a bit more.)   Paint over center of trunk and branches with medium color brown paint to add some depth. Note: all of you folks with ‘orange peel’ wall texture will appreciate the bark effect that results from the texture underneath.  I didn’t paint it that way – it just happened.

While the trunk dries, paint simple leaves with your medium sized paint brush and light green paint in a simple leaf shape.

Then add a lot of dark green paint to your leftover light green paint, mix it, then swipe the leaves on one side or another to give some shading.

 You can even go back a third time with just the dark green paint to add more depth.

Return to your tree trunk with your lightest shade of brown/tan paint. Swipe the center of the tree trunk and the branches with your paintbrush using the paler color, then use a kitchen sponge to smooth it out. This gives the subtle look of light cast upon the tree trunk, and provides even more depth and shadow. If you’re sentimental like I am, carve a message into your tree trunk!

 (if you dare to decorate with faux blooms): Pluck the bloom off the plastic branch, and trim the plastic bottom of the bloom so that your blossom will glue flat to the wall. Apply with hot glue to the end of your painted branches.

And in the end, this is the result!

So tell me readers, give it to me straight.

Is it a botanical beauty, or are you totally allergic?