And then we came home from Colorado.
In between gardening, homeschooling, and watching HGTV, I became inspired to paint walls.
So 2002 became the year we renovated the house by painting the boring white walls.
My greatest inspiration on HGTV was Matt Fox and Shari Hiller of Room by Room fame.
They wisely said the cheapest and easiest way to make over a room is with paint. Looking back that is definitely true. I’m now in love with color.
And their theme rooms motivated me to do something fun for the kids. Using ideas from Matt and Shari, I decided to paint murals on their bedroom walls and their bathroom.
First up was my son’s bedroom using the theme of trains through the Rocky Mountains, as inspired by our trip to 2001 in Colorado.
It was super easy and lots of fun.
Iconic views from our many jaunts out and about in Colorado were the snow capped peaks of the purple mountain majesties, so I definitely painted those on one of the large walls.
Because of all the train rides that went through tunnels, I had to include those in the corners.
Of course iconic railroad signage is important to include in the train mural!
Then I painted lots of train tracks running through tunnels, across mountains, and past Pikes Peak surrounded by pine trees.
The result was a super cheerful room that we enjoyed hanging out in, especially my son.
After all that, I replaced the furniture and made his bed with the brand new train sheets I bought.
Later additions included a train lamp, and various train pictures, shown in the following pictures taken five years later.
A few months after this room was painted, I sewed a quilt for my son’s birthday to coordinate with his room.
Click here to see more photos of the mural at my Flickr account.
