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Decorating our young son's room to provide a fun sanctuary was our goal. How to decorate his room for little cost, limited skills, but filled with life was our challenge. Since he liked to play with his toy cars and he liked all kinds of animals, we tried to think of a way to incorporate both of these interests into one project. Since we are not artistically gifted, we wondered whether our creation would cause pleasant dreams or disturbing nightmares! We were pleased that the space we created by rearranging furniture and painting animals on the wall transformed a boring room into a zoo and an ordinary bed into an ark. It became a special space filled with adventure by day and sweet dreams by night. This is how we met the challenge and achieved our goal:

Instead of paying for expensive wall hangings, we decided to paint a wall mural. We painted the walls a neutral colored, using stain resistant paint. We placed the bed up against the wall and lightly marked the width of the headboard on the wall. We found an illustration of animals and used our printer at home to print the picture out on a plastic film used with overhead projectors. Because wanted the finished product to match the width of the bed, we adjusted the size of the picture by moving the projector closer to or further from the wall to get it just right. Using a projector we borrowed from church and just a regular pencil, we traced the lines from the picture onto the wall.

Once the design was traced, the process of painting took only a few hours. We painted a black border around the edges which helped mask imperfections. Make sure that you let one color dry completely before starting with the next color so they don't bleed into each other. Once completed, we used a clear varnish to seal the mural. When the bed was placed up against the wall, the animals appeared to be coming right out of the headboard! Feeling a little emboldened by the experience, we used some remaining blue and white paint to create clouds on the ceiling.

We arranged the furniture to create a large open space between the bed and window. For the floor, we purchased an area rug which looked like a road through a green wilderness area. This way we combined our son's interests cars and animals into one play area. The final inexpensive addition we made was to make simple green curtains for the windows.

Another coat of paint several years later returned the room to its previous empty palette. When he was older, our son told us how much fun he had playing in his ark. Hours spent in play with imaginary friends or with a favorite toy is the right of every child. With a few inexpensive changes, you too can create a special place for your child.

Learn more about this author, Roland McShane.
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