Jordan is my precious little neighbor who is eight years old.  Over the last few years that I have known her, she has often asked me, "When are you going to decorate my room."  My reply would always be, “Well, that’s up to your Mommy and Daddy.” This summer while Jordan and her sisters Julia and Jessy visited their grandparents, their mother Vickie and I decided to tackle her room. 

One of Jordan’s and my favorite things we have shared a love for is the beautiful live oak trees and flowers in our neighborhood.  She and Julia often come visit me when I’m working in the garden and we talk about the kitty cats, birds, squirrels, bird feeders, butterflies, flowers, school, and so on... These two girls are so special and have been a joy to me and my family.

Vickie and I took the inspiration for Jordan’s room from the beauty all around us and some ideas Jordan had expressed.  A garden room was underway!!  Jordan already had a pretty flowered comforter with pinks, cranberry, pale blue and leaf greens on an ivory background and the carpet in her room, a dark green, was perfect for this theme.  My first suggestion was that the bedroom be painted a soft light blue for the backdrop of sky.  Jordan’s parents quickly cleaned out her room and began with painting the walls.  This gave us a fresh palette to create the garden.  

The next step was to head for the craft store.  Vickie and I found a picket fence, flower, and ivy stencils to work with.  She also bought a leaf stamp so we could create a tree. Our plan was to paint a tree in one corner and place the picket fence and flowers around the rest of the room.  I encouraged Vickie to buy a birdhouse, some birds and butterflies we found at the craft store.

Well, the moment of truth arrived and it was time to get started. Vickie and I both had done some smaller stenciling projects before, but we were about to take on a pretty big one.  Getting started really is the hardest part, but once we had a fence post on and a little ivy, we began gaining confidence and excitement. The fence post stencil was a two step process:  the first step painted in the post, and the second created the shadowing which really made the fence post pop out and look so real.  We added a few flowers that first night and felt quite proud of what we had done so far. 

Vickie spent the next week, painting the rest of the fence post and flowers.  We were concerned about how we would make some of the flowers look like they were behind the post and others in front.  She figured it out by manipulating the stencil and its placement as she went and did a wonderful job. Vickie got quite brave with shading and mixing colors to get different effects on the flowers and leaves.  One night that week I penciled in an outline for a tree trunk and branches.  Working with brown and two shades of gray, I filled in the lines.  By using all three colors, I was able to make the bark and tree look very natural.  With the leaf stamp, I pressed leaves all around the tree branches until we were satisfied there were enough.  Wow!!  We were really cooking now, and the room was looking so cute! 

Vickie finished most all the fencing and flowers while I scrubbed in some white clouds with a sea sponge and white craft paint using a circular pattern. The clouds were very easy and a lot of fun.  It was almost time to put the room back together and give it the finishing touches.  Jordan was due home on Saturday night, and it was now Wednesday of the second week, so we planned to finish the room on Thursday.

Arranging the room, dressing the bed, and hanging birdhouses and curtains all needed to be done.  First, I placed Jordan’s bed under her window and used a long length of solid cranberry chintz as a window treatment and bed canopy combined.  With large cup hooks mounted high above the center of the window and to the left and right about five inches, we draped the fabric using a piece of wire to hold the fabric and hook it to the cup hooks. After playing with the swags a little until we were happy with the results, we put big bows over each hook area.  Then we piled up some shams and pillows for bedding accents and used a solid bedskirt that matched the window/bed drapery.  Now, we were ready for the real fun...  Bringing life to Jordan’s garden!!

I painted a little birdhouse that I hung on the wall below a tree branch and then drew a line from the top of the branch to the birdhouse to resemble string.  We had another birdhouse Vickie bought that was made from real tree bark and looked natural.  We hung it on another branch and hot-glued two birds on it’s perch and roof.  I found another bird’s nest attached to a tree twig at JoAnn Fabrics and mounted it with a little pink bird in the nest.  A proud blue jay is observing all this from the highest branch. Cranberry red butterfly’s are lit on a leaf, and three large yellow butterfly’s are flying through the sky.  I painted a garden marker with “Jordan’s Secret Garden” on it and nailed it to a fence post. We added a garden table for a night stand, a darling butterfly lamp (Vickie also found at JoAnns Fabrics), a flower pot with pink, yellow and blue daisies, a watering can with ivy in it, and we were done!!  The makeover was complete, and just as cute as it could be.

Stenciling is one of the best and most economical ways we can decorate our homes.  You don’t have to be an artist, or have any special talents -- Just the courage to get started. Vickie really didn’t "need" me, but I did give her the encouragement and confidence she needed to tackle this project.  I hope that the simplicity and beauty of our project will encourage you to “Go for it”!!!

Jordan’s arrival home on Saturday night combined with her expression of surprise upon seeing her new room was worth it all!!  Her eyes lit up as she squealed with delight.  Her reaction was the best payment for design work and the only one I wanted for this project.  I Love You, Jordan!!  Sweet Dreams in your very own Secret Garden!!!

Be sure to visit Stenciling on Best of the Web.  There are 10 links to websites related to Stenciling.

Happy Decorating,