Step-by-Step Tutorial For Painting Birch Trees

When I began to dream up what my baby’s nursery would look like, I knew I wanted something gender-neutral. I didn’t want it to scream boy or girl. After searching online for inspiration, I decided on a woodlands animal theme. I saw a bunch of these awesome full-wall tree decals and quickly realized they were seriously pricey! They ranged in costs of hundreds of dollars to cover a full wall. Sure they are great because they are removable, but I knew I could create something like this with paint for a much more affordable amount. I’m going to share a step-by-step tutorial on how I created a birch tree mural.

Materials

• primer
• paint – color for the walls and sample size cans of an off white and brown for the trees
• painter’s tape
• paint rollers
• paint brushes
• paint tray
• step ladder
• old credit card
• drop cloths and rags
• inspirational image of birch trees

1. Base Paint The Walls– I already had a nice sage green color on the walls which I decided to stick with. If you are starting from scratch or painting over old paint, you will need to take a few extra steps.
   • if there is any damage on the walls, you will want to fill it in and sand these spots smooth
   • use a damp cloth and wipe down the walls
   • cover trim and edges where the ceiling meets the wall with painter’s tape
   • paint one coat of primer
   • paint 2 coats of the desired color (be safe and wait for 24hrs of drying before continuing)

2. Tape Tree Shapes– use a good brand of painter’s tape. Do not go cheap on this. I repeat DO NOT go cheap. I used an old roll of cheap tape and it all fell down and I had to start all over again. When taping off the tree shapes, make sure to create different widths. This creates the idea of depth. Smaller trees trunks appear further in the distance while the wide ones appear closer. Also, don’t make the trees perfectly straight because they don’t occur this way in nature. Once you have all the tape up, take an old credit card and run it down the tape edges to make sure you have a good seal between tape and wall.

3. Paint Trees – I used a 2-inch paint roller, but you could also use a regular brush. Let that first layer dry completely and then do one more coat.

4. Texture and Detail- this is where the inspiration image will be helpful. To create the bark-like texture, use an old credit card. Dip the edge of the card in the brown paint. Press the credit card, paint side down, on the edge of the tree, and drag in. Vary pressure and length you drag in.

5. Branches– I freehanded the branches. I decided to just put a few here and there and again, to create depth, have some branches overlapping trees and some going behind. I did two coats of white paint like I did the trunk of the tress. I cut up the credit card into smaller pieces and again, dipped it in the paint, and dragged it to create texture. I only did this on the bottom of the branches leaving the top empty. By doing this, you give the impression of sunlight hitting the top of branches.

I really liked the simplicity of the trees, but if you wanted to create some more detail you could paint in leaves or little woodland creatures.

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