So often I have to prioritize and execute the projects/rooms that have more professional consequences or obligations (i.e. running a “business”). But with this project I stood firm, not moving it from my calendar all summer long, no matter how swamped this fall is going to be. I repeated what many a content creator has said in the past – “I will not go another winter without a floral mural on this alpaca/pig/art barn”. Water, food, shelter, floral mural. right? And it’s for no real purpose other than personal excitement, joy, experimentation, and good old-fashioned creative collaboration (why I got into this in the first place). I want my eyes to see flowers all winter and I want to spend a few days with an artist I admire, Racheal from Banyan Bridges fame, throwing colors on a barn, getting messy, and chatting about how we are both former Mormons, moms, TV hosts, and design content creators.
As a reminder, this is the art barn that is 1/2 for the alpacas/pigs and 1/2 a flex space for the kids to do art projects and for Gretchen and I to take calls after the kids get home from school. It’s old and falling apart and so charming. The outside needed a fresh coat of white paint, fine, I like white because it matches the rest of the buildings on the property. At this point I didn’t want to do a blue or red barn, I liked the idea of it looking cohesive architecturally, but boy was I feeling like I wanted to take a risk and a smaller shed/barn is the perfect place to do it. It’s just paint. If we don’t like it we can literally paint over it in one day. Brian still is like, “I have no what you are doing but go for it”.
We recently almost finished the inside (stained floor coming soon! See render above for the plan:)), so the whole project is coming along. The inside is looking very cute, so let’s get into what the outside could look like (with help).
Floral Mural Inspiration
I love this one, but it has more of an overall wallpaper pattern. I think the pattern might be too intricate for me to do and wayyyyy more time-consuming than we have, but pretty darn great.
I love this one, too – exciting, bright, graphic. There is something a little too bright and yet dark about it but the scale of the flowers and movement are really good. I should also say I want it to feel like a mix of PNW (Oregon) and Scandinavia. And I want it to not look totally odd/out of place on our property.
I LOVE this one. It is graphic but in a more Scandinavian folk art way which speaks to my soul (never been and y’all I’m going to need to go soon, this is getting ridiculous). It has symmetry but an organic movement, and multiple colors in the flowers, but not very watercolor-y.
Both the black house above and this white brick building were both done by Bailey Sullivan, an illustrator and muralist from Richmond, VA. She has a really cute, bright Scandi style. Love your work Bailey!
A few years ago Handmade Charlotte painted this mural and my goodness it’s good. It has more of a Marimekko vibe and she did it by projecting the illustration onto the barn and then tracing and painting. LOVE. Definitely go check her out.
She has a great post about “how to paint a gigantic mural” (and she’s rad – I’ve met her a few times at blogger conferences).
Mural Artist Banyan Bridges FTW
I met Racheal Jackson at the Meridian Experience blog conference in 2022, although I followed long before. She is a PNW artist/content creator/TV host and is wildly artistic. Like if you look at the two of us she wins in all the color, risk, and bravery categories. Such eye candy, joy, and irreverence. She recently redid her midcentury kitchen in Vancouver, Washington including painting her fridge in color blocks. Go look. So after we moved up here I wanted to figure out some sort of collaboration with her and we bounced many things around (Charlie's bedroom walls, the floor of the landing) but she booked the show Artfully Designed (with Natalie Papier and Frankie Zombie) now on Discovery+ so her schedule was booked up. I was finally able to lock her down and negotiate all the things we needed to, so now next week we are executing the mural.
Please note the comment on this mural she did in Austin a few months ago:
I threw it out there, DM'd her, and figured it was worth a shot. That was months ago, but here we are!
Her work is really graphic, playful, retro-inspired, with an incredible amount of energy and movement. Not exactly "Scandinavian barn" but I think that's why it's going to be so fun - it will stretch her AND me, stylistically.
So before we got started Gretch mocked up these with an iPad and stylus. We gave some inspirational images and these, but honestly, we are really open and are hiring her for her creative expertise, not mine (or I would have tried to do it myself).
At the time I told Gretch I was in between the more organic floral (above) and the more graphic Scandy folk art (below).
We sent this to Racheal yesterday, not wanting to dictate but also thinking it's fun to see the two styles on the barn (would be in color, obviously). So now it's the creative back and forth to figure out OUR floral barn mural. I'm so excited and nervous (I am a terrible artist, BTW) and love so many different styles that it's hard for me to know what will be "best" (the chronic pathology of a stylist). I'm both a Virgo and Enneagram 7 which is WILD sometimes (the "enthusiast", driven by fun) which means that I'm a stickler and very detailed about HAVING FUN (ask my team). And this mural, next week, is going to be FUN.
Opening Image Credits: Photo by Kaitlin Green | From: A Summer Project – The Barn Turned “Kids Summer Clubhouse”???
A person is only allowed to say “im a terrible artist” if they have spent a lot of time on a specific skill set and still can’t do it. For instance 40 years of effort at computational math and Im still bad at it = “im terrible at math”. Most art is a skill set that can be learned and perfected over time. As humans we are all artists. Its baked into our DNA. 😁
As a former art teacher, I second this 100%. Yes, some people have an innate knack for it that they naturally hone by spending lots of time on it , but artistic skill and creativity can also be learned and developed by anyone!
Yes to this! I say this all the time to the young people in my life (I’m a therapist) and try to remind them that if they are doing and (mostly) enjoying the process then that’s really the only thing that matters!
So pumped! A big fan of her work!
This is going to be exciting!
My first thought when I read this was “I won!” The render of the floor was my fave, so I’m excited to see the finished work. And now to the murals: love love love the Bailzy work, but I also love BB, and how she’ll move you out of your Scandi comfort zone. Excited to see what you come up with!
Love this “I won!” Funny because I had the same thought about the floor!
With your quilt obsession have you considered doing a barn quilt design? I’m originally from PA Amish country and many of the barns have a quilt mural. If you search for that, you’ll see a lot of cool, colorful designs.
I like this idea. It would fit in very well
Was coming here to say this!! The nice thing about the barn quilts is that they’re done on a sheet of plywood so they’re easier to take down/switch out.
Although it seems like Emily and Racheal are pretty much set on doing a mural. I prefer the second (more Scandi) design myself. Excited to see how this turns out.
I just went to an exhibit about Amish quilts at the Smithsonian Institue in DC and if you follow the link there are many quilt examples. The patterns and colors are beautiful: https://americanart.si.edu/exhibitions/pattern-and-paradox
and I think the Scandinavian designs have a quilt-esque look too!
From Banyon Bridges portfolio
A Gee’s Bend-inspired quilt mural is now on my design bucket list.
SO GOOD! I love her work and can hardly wait to see the finished design!!
I LOVE Rachel’s work; seeing her work on the barn will be so interesting. She’s known for her flowing artwork which I think this project definitely needs. Can we follow in real-time on Instagram? That would be amazing!!
I second a real-time instagram live!
I hate to ask a stereotypically gendered question, but … is Charlie on board with the design? Or does the space get inherently less cool/boy-approved when you add large scale florals to the exterior? Genuinely just curious — I have NO idea what pre-teen bros find cool these days. That said, I think it’s going to be gorgeous and can’t wait to see the final, fun result!
Do guys not like flowers? Hubby has a jillion floral Hawaiian shirts. At art shows, tons of men paint floral still lifes. I thought everyone loves flowers.
I have two pre-teen boys and I have learned colors are not gendered in the same way I grew up. They’re comfortable wearing pink or carrying a purple lunchbox. They don’t get teased or told it’s girly. It turns out we did a good job not pushing gender norms on the next gen! Ha!
I grew up in a Swedish/Finnish community in the US. Watching influencers monetize the art styles from my grandmas’ placemats and house dresses makes me understand the cultural appropriation critiques better. I say this as a long time EHD reader & supporter. I hope we continue to move toward a future where design trends elevate those artists who have built whatever art style, rather than those who adapt art styles that are trendy. I think EHD has done a great job of this with their writing on the history & art of American quilting. <3
I mean, she isn’t putting the design on her rugs line… she’s not really monetizing this, besides ad money she gets as we read this blog post. She is just a person appreciating a style and putting it on her property. The same way your grandma used the pattern in her home when she appreciated it – and we can pretty safely assume the profit from those plates she bought way back when didn’t go back to the Swedish/Finnish community or meaningfully do anything to uplift those original artisans. Emily also fully acknowledges the design history and inspiration – she isn’t pretending this just popped out of her own brain. Nordic cultures are not historically marginalized people and as such, the appropriation term does not seem applicable here. FWIW, I am also American of Finnish descent, and this just seems like it’s… not something to get upset over.
I love this idea. I’m in the more flowing/organic camp, but however it turns out this should be REALLY fun and a great cheering up moment for the long rainy winters
Won’t the barn space smell bc of the animals?
(Some of us farmy people actually like animal and farmy smell! My favorite place to be is in our farmy barn!).
I love that you are doing this for no other reason than it’s fun and gives you the chance to work with someone awesome. All of the best things in my career have come out of that spirit – can’t wait to see what emerges!
As someone who put off and put off simply repainting the exterior window trim on a small house, I am agog at all of the eye-popping murals! Such eye-candy! So bold and fun.
This is SO exciting!!! I love Racheal’s murals — can’t wait to see what the final collab looks like!
I would have suggested a Pennsylvania Dutch design. Absolutely loved the first one.
This is an excellent collaboration and I can’t wait to see you and Rachael transform the barn exterior (and see the finished the interior) — into a fun, creative communal space. I also second Susan’s comment about not calling yourself a “terrible artist” — please!
You two are both my favs for inspiration and life showings, so I am so pleased no matter the design that you are working together! I hope it continues! You have done/will do a lot of good in the world.
“I will not go another winter without a floral mural on this alpaca/pig/art barn” <- I laughed out loud at this declaration! I love how whimsical this project is, and I extra love that you’ll be working with one of my favorite artists on it! Can’t wait to follow along and see how things turn out!
What a fun idea! Have you seen the pictures from Zalipie, Poland with the flower painted houses? This reminds me about this.
Also, as a swede I love how you take inspiration from scandi designs! And in contrast to another commenter, have no problem with appropriation. Quite the opposite. It’s super fun to see how our culture is interpreted and celebrated. It makes us, or at least me, even more proud!