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.)

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.