This Mom Said ‘Yes’ to Every Idea Her Kids Had for Their Bedroom Walls — and The Result Is Incredible
When professional DIYer and mural artist Carrie Kline, who runs the Honey Do Honey Home blog, wanted to redecorate her sons’ bedroom in their eclectic Monticello, Minnesota home, she didn’t take on the project alone. Instead, she enlisted help from two people very close to the project: her sons, 5-year-old Rolly and 3-year-old Ruben.
Kline was participating in the One Room Challenge and thought painting all the walls in her sons’ shared bedroom would be the perfect space for the competition. Even before pulling out her paintbrushes, Kline promised to follow her kids’ vision for their room.
“There’s something so powerful about creating a space with your own ideas and feeling like it really represents you. I get that feeling every time I create a space in my home. I wanted my boys to experience that in their own room,” Kline says. “I wanted to celebrate their imaginations and let them know that their ideas are important and valuable.”
So, before painting commenced, she asked Rolly and Ruben to create mood boards. “I gave them paper and markers and told them to draw their ideas for the room,” Kline shares. And her sons got very into their roles as designers. Soon enough, their pages were filled with dinosaurs, rockets, robots, and even their “stuffed animal puppy riding on a shooting star,” which they requested be placed on the ceiling (spoiler alert: it was!).
Once Kline had their initial mood boards, it was time to start painting — however, the creativity and input from her kids didn’t stop at the sheet paper.
Even though their papers were filled with colorful designs, it takes a lot to fill five walls (including the ceiling) with imagination. So, Kline started asking her sons for ideas, and then she’d search the web, pull characteristics from other designs, and create her own.
“For the first few paintings, I would sketch out my design on the wall with a pencil first, but as I did more, my confidence grew, and I just went for it with a paintbrush,” Kline explains. “The pressure was low. This was for my kids. They loved everything I made.”
Although the walls are full of color and artistry, Kline used minimal tools. For instance, she used a small pack of Home Depot artist brushes for the intricate areas and a Zibra round brush for the larger spaces. Luckily, she had those tools already — all she had to purchase was paint.
For the walls, Kline used gallons of Behr’s “Terrace Teal” and “Cinnamon Stone” and sample sizes of Behr’s “Black,” “Rise And Shine,” “Velvet Leaf,” “Beauty Queen,” “Ombre Blue,” “Paradise Of Greenery,” and “Amber Brew.” In total, it all cost her only $150.
It might’ve been the vibrant colors or the designs jumping off the walls, but as Kline painted, her kids became more and more animated when requesting illustrations (like a stuffed animal on the moon!). For instance, the family was watching Toy Story and wanted the fictional character Buzz Lightyear on their wall. “It truly was such an awesome bonding experience for us all,” Carrie says. “They really loved that I said ‘yes’ to every idea.”
The project took Kline around eight weeks to finish — mostly because she had to find pockets of time to work on the space without her sons in the room. From start to finish, though, it was a family effort. Kline’s husband, Adam, would take the boys outside to play after dinner, and her mom would watch the kids, giving her time to paint. “It was a scramble. I learned to paint fast and trust my gut,” she shares.
Finally, the project was complete, and the boys loved (and still do!) the space. Kline says their favorite part is seeing their stuffed animals on the walls and being incorporated into the mural (she painted astronaut suits and mod-podge photos of their faces on the design).
Being a DIY extraordinaire, this fun kids’ room isn’t the only amazing space in Kline’s home. To see other finished projects in their Minnesota home, visit the full house tour on Apartment Therapy.
Product List
Rug — Gifted from Rugs.com
Ceiling fan — Gifted from Hunter Fan Company
