One of the best ways to make your home a little more “yours” is to design the space to reflect your tastes. One of my recent buyers, did exactly this in her home with a wall mural. With a background in the arts, she likes to have her spaces filled with art, and often uses the walls as another space to create. The house is filled with tons of windows and lots of views out into the yard and the lake beyond. She was looking for a way to bring the outside in to join the two. For her, this meant painting a DIY abstract mural that is reminiscent of the ocean or a sunrise depending on your view.

If you’ve been on Pinterest, wall murals are all over the place. From nurseries to living rooms, painting a wall mural seems to be a very popular choice. You might look at all those pictures or the tutorials and assume that its way too much work. Or that it might take forever, or require a degree in art. Christine assures us, that this wasn’t the case at all for her project.

“I had spent a couple weeks pinning inspiration on pinterest. After I got a general idea of what I wanted so I went to the store, picked some colors and came home to paint. It took me about 3.5 hours from start to finish. The key is to not over think it.”

Want the Details on Painting a DIY Wall Mural?

She started with a few images on Pinterest. She would show the pictures to her husband, who would often say the looks were too feminine. So -more pinteresting.

After a few weeks of thinking things over, she picked up paint samples. Since she was combining several colors onto just the one wall, samples were big enough. For her project she used Sherwin Williams. She choose 6 colors; Ambitious Amber, Insightful Rose, Lagoon, Jubilee, Misty and Sleepy Blue.

Now to the Actual Painting

The idea was to be able to blend the colors together, and see the brushstrokes. She was looking to add a bit of texture to the space. With a paint brush for each color, and each sample laid out on the floor – she started at the bottom.

“I just sort of put the colors on as they seem to be needed. I worked from the bottom up so that where I was blending wouldn’t be dry yet. Every 10 minutes or so I would step back and look at the overall picture. I’d see somewhere that needed another dab of this, or that, and then I’d jump back in.”

The yellow and pink hues were both used just for accents. She used these sparingly as a way to bring a little light and warmth to the wall mural. In areas where there was too much of one color, she did a little dry brushing in one of the other colors over the top. The final product? Perfect! Both she and her husband love the final design. They paired a few other elements in the room to bring a calm and quiet feeling to the space.  

Ready to Design Your Space?

If you don’t know, one of the services I offer is Interior Design. Whether you’d like me to choose the materials and colors for your space, design the room as a whole or just want to talk things out and get advice (by the hour!) I’m here for you. I’m a self taught Interior Designer – I’ve always loved the process and can’t resist a good makeover! Send an email to kelly@stylishpatina.com to get your project started!

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