if you follow me on social media at all, you might have seen my total exhilaration about getting to deliver my biggest custom order ever back to indiana last weekend. (and if you didn’t see those posts, maybe you should follow me on facebook and instagram? just sayin’) 🙂

so, yes, i had the awesome honor of getting to personally deliver two roomfuls of custom artwork to a longtime friend of mine back in indiana this weekend. (for anyone new to this here blog, did you know i’m an indiana girl? yep. born and raised.) and today, since large scale custom design has become a popular little thing for me to do this year, i thought i’d share with y’all how we worked together, and how i did what i did, given i haven’t ever seen her home, or the rooms we were planning artwork for. ready? good, let’s begin…

so, back in may, my friend reached out to me (we’ll call her k) with what she thought was a funny request. she and her husband had just finished redecorating their master bedroom and bathroom. paint was on the walls, new furniture was in place, light fixtures were up, even window treatments were on their way. but they had bare walls. and weren’t quite sure what to do with them. could i help? could i do something for them even though i was four-plus hours away? why, yes i could. with the wonders of a decent digital camera, the internet and the ability to walk into a paint store to get paint swatches, we could make this happen!

i went about asking k for a variety of things that would help me figure out what kind of space we were working with. the first was pictures of the spaces, just so i could grasp where we were going to put artwork. and i needed measurements of spaces…not just floor to ceiling, but the visible space we had so that we could make sure we weren’t putting an 11″ tall piece in a space where we have 60″ of usable height. and colors and patterns. it was such a help that k had the names of the two benjamin moore paints she had used. and it was even more of a help that i was able to stop by and see my friends at splash of color in dekalb and pick up the paint swatches. with that info, i practically felt like i had been in the house and saw the rooms myself.

from there, i had some more stylistic questions for k…what kinds of patterns do you like? modern? traditional? frilly? i could tell from the furniture style we were going to be headed toward more modern territory (bestill my heart!). how do you feel about monograms? (y’all know how i feel about them.) are there any special quotes that you’d like to incorporate? we worked through those questions, and then i had what i needed to go about sketching and finding ideas for what we could do.

we had some pretty large areas to work with, so bigger canvases were a total option for us. that, and i knew i wanted to blend mediums…provide some softness with fabrics with some paint and paper art. lots of time on fabric.com, and random sketches on scrap paper, and a design for the bedroom and bathroom was born. i’m still old school…i have a true sketchbook (it reminds me of my honors art class in middle school, what can i say?) and i pulled all of my random chicken scratches together to sketches for each room, along with what my thoughts were…

see? i told you i was old school. pencil drawings!

the process from here was pretty simple…k loved the designs, so i got to work gathering all of my materials, and tracking down a fabric we both loved from fabric.com that i could no longer find on their website. and here is where i need to give major (like huge) props to fabric.com and their customer service. all i had was a screen shot of the fabric that we loved (lesson: always write down the name of the fabric!), so i got on the website and started a live chat with a customer service rep. i mentioned all i had was a screen shot, and she had me send it over to her. within minutes, i had the name of the fabric, that it was in stock and how many yards they had of it. order placed!

and the work began….here’s what was in the finished delivery!

the branch fabric? that’s the elusive fabric!

for over the bed: two, 24″ x 26″ canvases wrapped in fabric (the elusive fabric that i tracked down)

for the sitting area: one 30″ x 40″ canvas painted in grey + yellow with a brushstroke treatment; one 16″ x 20″ canvas wrapped in a pretty yellow + white fabric with a circle single letter monogram; and, finally, a special dates wall art that will be placed in an 11″ x 14″ frame

for the tall dresser: a single, 11″ x 14″ monogram piece in yellow + grey + white to be placed in an 11″ x 14″ frame

the 30″ x 40″ painted canvas for the sitting area

for the long dresser: a single 8″ x 10″ paper art piece featuring k and her family’s favorite scripture passage

for over the master bath soaking tub: four 12″ x 12″ canvases wrapped in fabric. here we used two different patterns: a grey + white woodgrain feel and a yellow + white dandelion fabric.

for over the master dual vanity: true paper art: grey + white dot pattern background with a three-dimensional yellow poppy in the center (with just a touch of sparkle!)

a collection of paper art!

for the master bath toilet room: a 16″ x 20″ large paper art, featuring a yellow mum design offset on a simple white background

phew! this was such a fantastic project to work on for a good friend, and to know that my designs and pieces are in such a special home. hope you love them as much as i do!

and, of course, i’m always happy to keep the custom design work going, so if you need some fun, personalized decor in your home that’s like nothing anyone else has, send me a note. 🙂

p.s. be sure to follow us on facebook because k is also going to be kind enough to share pics once all of the pieces are placed in the master bedroom + master bath!