Look, there's a tree in my room!

Back when we had the vent installed above the range, we made the decision to build a column in the kids' room to hide the duct work. It was either that or totally destroy the kitchen cabinets that I absolutely love. So the decision was easy.

I thought it would be fun to paint a tree and use the column as a trunk. I used this Martha Stewart "wood grain rocker" tool from the Home Depot (about $6). It took me a few test runs to get the hang of painting faux bois. There were no instructions on the package, so I just fiddled around with it until I got something that resembled wood grain. The more a dragged the rocker, the more wood grainy it looked. If you rock it too much back and forth, it just looks like a bunch of random scratches.

I had a half dozen painted tree pictures in my inspiration file, but eventually settled on a Klimt painting not only because it's so cool, but it seemed like the easiest shapes to paint on the ceiling. 

The slightly greyish white paint against the pale lavender walls is very subtle, but it was enough to catch my daughter's attention when she walked into the room.

Next, I'm going to paint an inexpensive wood birdhouse with glitter paint and hang it on the "trunk." So much fun decorating a kid's room!