Decorating Kids' Rooms With a Jungle Theme

Paint a palm tree mural as the focal point in the room.

When tackling decorating projects for children's rooms, remember that kids concentrate on the "big-picture" effect of the room, so you needn't obsess over minute details. Decorating a kid's room with a jungle theme is a playful scheme that can be used for a girl or a boy. Once you have finished the basics, use your imagination to add special touches.

Things You'll Need

• Painter's tape
• Plastic drop cloths
• Screwdriver
• Latex interior semigloss paint, sage green
• Latex interior flat paint,forest green
• Paint roller
• Paint pan
• Sponge craft brushes
• Ladder
• Palm frond
• Pencil
• Cardboard, larger and wider than palm frond
• Craft blade
• Measuring tape
• Acrylic paints in greens, brown, tan
• Craft paintbrushes
• Permanent black marker with wide, flat tip
• Stud finder
• Clear fishing line
• Yardstick
• Scissors
• Cup hooks
• Stuffed jungle animals

Instructions

Painting the Room

1. Put plastic on the floor. Tape the plastic to the lip of the baseboard with painter's tape. Cover the door and window molding with painter's tape.

2. Use a screwdriver to remove the plates over the outlets and switches. Cover the outlets and switches with painter's tape.

3. Pour sage green paint into a paint pan. Paint the walls sage green using a paint roller. Use sponge craft brushes to paint in corners and around molding. Allow the paint to dry.

4. Remove the painter's tape from the moldings and baseboard. Tape painter's tape around the outer edges of the baseboard and moldings to protect the wall. Paint the window moldings and baseboard forest green with sponge craft brushes. Allow the paint to dry.

Palm Tree Mural

1. Put a palm frond on top of a piece of cardboard. Palm fronds can be found at party and craft stores, plant nurseries and florists. Trace around the palm frond very neatly with a pencil. Use a craft blade to cut the traced image out of the cardboard to create a stencil.

2. Choose a wall with no windows or doors on which to paint the mural. Use a measuring tape to determine the center of the wall.

3. Start at the room's center at the baseboard and, with a pencil, draw a palm tree, 12 inches wide at the base and six feet high. Draw it so the trunk tapers as it nears the top and tilts slightly to one side.

4. Position the palm frond stencil to the right of and above the tree trunk, with the frond stem touching the center top of the tree. Trace the stencil on the wall with a pencil. Move the stencil over to the left so the frond is barely overlapping the last traced frond and trace the stencil on the wall. Continue tracing the frond stencil until the palm tree leaves have the fullness you desire.

5. Paint the trunk brown with a craft brush and acrylic paint. Allow to dry. Paint the fronds various shades of green. Allow to dry.

6. Using tan acrylic paint, draw three baseball-sized circles in the middle of the fronds at the top center of the tree trunk to represent coconuts. Allow the paint to dry.

7. Outline the fronds, tree trunk and any coconuts with the permanent black marker. Start at the base of the trunk and with the black marker draw an "X" at the bottom of the tree that touches the sides and base of the tree. Directly above that "X," draw another "X." Draw the "Xs" progressively smaller the further up the tree you go. Continue making "X"s until you reach the top of the tree.

Hanging the Jungle Animals

1. Use a stud finder to locate the ceiling joists. Screw cup hooks into the joists in random places, such as near corners.

2. Measure and cut 30-inch-long pieces of clear, fishing line for each stuffed jungle animal. Tie a loop in one end of each piece of line. Tie the other end of the line around the animal's neck.

3. Hang the line's loop end over the cup hook and suspend the plush animal from the ceiling.

References

• How to Draw Funny Cartoons: How to Draw Palm Trees