Host Bea Pila transforms an unused attic room into a sunny nursery. Because the expectant parents had already decided not to learn their baby's sex in advance, the color scheme they chose was a fresh, cheerful combination of yellow and blue. The room -- which with its sloping ceiling and dormer windows had a lot of potential -- needed just some careful attention to blossom into a baby girl or boy's dream nursery.
With its bumpy ceiling and cracked plaster, the odd-shaped room was initially in need of some TLC (figure A), but even the addition of a couple of coats of paint has made a big improvement. The first coat of paint, an off-white eggshell finish, has been applied and allowed to dry.
Then decorative artist Sally Huff works her magic on the room. First she measures the walls and decides on the size of the pattern she will be painting on them. Using a carpenter's chalk line (figure B), she snaps a line horizontally across the wall, continuing until she has marked the entire wall in large checkerboard squares. The next step is to tape off the squares (making sure to place the edge of the tape slightly outside of the chalk line). Next she smoothes out the tape by rubbing it with a cloth, simultaneously removing the chalk as she does so (figure C).
Using scrunched-up cheesecloth and starting in the middle of a square, Huff begins patting yellow paint onto the wall. By working out from the center, she's able to get rid of some of the excess paint as she works out toward the edges (figure D). The eggshell paint is forgiving, and mistakes can be wiped off or covered up without hurting the finished design. The paint is allowed to dry overnight.
Because the dormer wall is more difficult to decorate than the large, even wall on which she painted the checkerboard pattern, Huff decides to continue the color scheme in a swirling design. She uses a brush and yellow paint to create freehand vertical "waves" down the wall, adding random gray swirls with a paint pen (figure E).
Finally, the floor receives the artist's attention: a white semigloss checkerboard border (painted using the same technique as the checks on the wall) outlines the room and echoes the clean, crisp pattern on the main wall. The pattern for the checks was simply a box lid, around which Huff taped to form her stencils (figure F).
RESOURCES :
Treasures for Baby: Exquisite Nursery Decorations and Handmade Ribbon Keepsakes
Author: Ellie Joos
Sunset Ideas for Great Baby Rooms
Model: 0376010460
Author: Christine Olson Gedye
$12.95
Paperback
112 pages (January 2000)
Sunset Pub Company
Sunset Publishing Company (Division of Time Warner)
Website: www.sunset.com
Baby's Room: Create-a-Special
Model: 1574862049
Author: Barbara Finwall, Nancy Javier
Paperback
80 pages (July 2000)
Leisure Arts (Hot Off The Press, Inc.)
Website: www.craftpizazz.com
GUESTS :
Sally Huff
Decorative artist
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