Several months ago after my pre-schooler successfully started sleeping in his own bed, I suggested we commemorate his accomplishment. Froyo? A trip to Chuck E. Cheese? Whatever his little heart desired. I was surprised when he said he wanted to put “picture frames” on the wall above his bed. Really? Cause I was kinda hoping for some frozen yogurt…
I gave the pair of gold geometric paintings I had made for the wall above the couch in our last condo several coats of white paint and tried to get some buy-in from the little one to make some Enzo Mari inspired graphic fruits. I saw them years ago in a Domino magazine and I’ve never been able to shake them out of my head since.
I had my son pick out the acrylic paints for the apple and pear he was going to paint. 
I drew the outline of the fruits in pencil and let him direct me where to put little blobs of paint on the canvas.
Going into this, I really didn’t know how they were going to turn out. I think that’s true of any arts and craft you do with kids when you have an end result in mind. They’re pretty huge paintings compared to a little four-year-old body and like many creative projects, it’s easy for them to take a turn into something else completely.
He did a pretty good job sticking to the directions and staying within the lines. Once the paintings had dried, I cleaned up the outline with some white paint and added on the dark brown stems. I love the texture from his little brush strokes. Aren’t kids just the best little artists?
The black glossy frames work so well with the paintings. Stick anything in a black frame and it takes whatever is inside to a whole new level.
My placement of these paintings was pretty strategic. I basically wanted to maximize their enjoyment as much as possible. So here are my tips for getting the most out of any art:
Think about vantage points from other rooms. Personally, the pear piece is my favorite (I’m a huge fan of yellow green) so I hung it to the right of the apple so I can see it from our own bedroom. Even though the painting isn’t in our bedroom, I enjoy it from there all the time.
Hang art from across a mirror. When I posted the state of my little guy’s room a couple months ago, many of you gave thoughtful recommendations of how to bring more color in. I wanted to start with a black and white foundation and bring in colorful accessories; it was definitely never my intention for it to be devoid of color. Placing this pair of fruits across from a mirror gives us four paintings for the effort of just two.
My son is pretty thrilled with his paintings and whenever we have some down time or are in a decorating mood he’ll ask to paint some grapes or bananas for some of the other walls in his room. It’s too funny! That’s why I think kids need a little decorating direction. If it we’re up to him, his room would be a produce isle by now!
There may be more commemorative decorations in his future since shortly after creating his fruit paintings he found his way back in our bed. Boo! He was doing so well for a while but then the smoke alarm in his room randomly went off one night and it took some time just for him to get comfortable being in his room again let alone sleep in there.
And as you may have noticed, the computer desk is out and the small futon couch we had in his previous room is back in! I can’t tell you how excited I am for this switcheroo. Things are not only finally coming together in his room but as a result our room, too.
P.S. The state of the big boy room part 1 and part 2.
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