The Name Game

Peanut Peanut Bo Beanut Banana Fana Fo Feanut...

Oh you know The Name Game, right?  That's what I have been singing to myself over the last few weeks while I've been painting all of these precious names on canvas, ready to transform a cute bedroom into Cole's cute bedroom.  Or Ella and Emma's cute bedroom.  Or Elijah's cute bedroom.  There's no better way to stake your claim on your space than with a coordinating name painting.  From The Peanut Paintshop.  At least in my unbiased opinion.  :)

Here's Cole....

10x30"

Cole's room is decorated in blues and browns.  I never even saw his bedding or his room, but his mom said we couldn't go wrong with blues and browns.  Cole is only a few months old, but this will look great in his room for years to come.

The Ella....

10x30"

and twin sister Emma....

10x30"

Ella and Emma have the Brooke bedding from Pottery Barn Kids.  I went with colors from their bedding and pulled the green with white polka dots from it for a bright and fun look.  It was great to live vicariously in girl world for another brief moment.  Here's the Brooke bedding.  And, again, no, PBK pays me nothing for the continuous advertisement that I give to them.

And for some more sibling sharin'....Anna Lauren and Harrison!  It was a different experience to create for a room shared by a boy and a girl.  Their bedding coordinates in greens and browns, but has pink and blue thrown in as well.  Keeping the same overall look on the paintings along with the similar colors helps to bring the room together, but adding the different colors from their bedding makes it more personal.

10" squares

If you're looking for a name canvas to personalize your child's room, here are my suggestions:

1.  Use your favorite colors from their bedding.  In all likelihood, your favorite colors for your son or daughter are going to be the same when their room changes as they age and they'll generally be colors that are in most bedding sets.  This will allow you to use the piece for many years.

2.  Try to steer clear of adding a lot specific images to their name canvas.  Example:  Our son Jack had a jungle themed nursery.  The elephants and monkeys were precious and beautifully stitched on his bumper and sheets.  So I painted them.  My very first paintings.  Five jungle animals on rather large canvases.  Nothing much with his name on it.  I thought this was smart when we had our 2nd son, Finn, and he transitioned right into the nursery.  We didn't change a thing.  Except...now Finn and Jack share a room.  And there was no new baby to put in that old nursery.  This meant...all new art work.  There was nothing to transition with them.  Nothing to remind me of their nursery days.  Instead the jungle animals are in our attic somewhere.  If you want a transition piece, feel free to use an image of something fun from their bedding, but don't overdo it.  If you want to save some pennies in the future and have a fun reminder of the past, stick to the colors you like.  If you just gotta have the images, use smaller canvases.

3.  Map it.  I suggest using masking tape on the wall where you want your painting to go.  Map it out.  Then, measure your markings.  A lot of times people are surprised when their order arrives at how small or big it turns out because they never took the time to measure it.  They just did one of those hold your hands in a window form in the air and say, "Yeah, that looks good."  If you want something over a bed, changing table or door, bigger seems to be better.  Smaller canvases work well for propping on a book shelf, narrower wall spaces, and even hanging on their door.

That's all, folks.  Happy Sunday.