Mural, Mural on the Wall...

Paint, wallpaper, Faux finish...so many beautiful options for the walls of your home or work space!  Guess what? There’s one more: murals.   

Murals are fun, whimsical, different, and always custom.

A mural can completely change the feel of a room by adding depth and dimension.   A dull stairwell wall can become a portal to another realm.  A bedroom can become a virtual jungle that will spark your child's imagination.   The wall of a pub can tell the story of the building's history.  Most importantly, the sky’s the limit...and a sky painted on a ceiling makes a great mural.

The history of murals goes back to the far reaches of recorded time, with cave paintings dating back to 30,000 B.C.  Murals are not only depicted as paint and plaster embellishment on walls, but often are applied as custom painted tiles, or on canvas that is applied like wallpaper.

Murals can be whimsical and tell a story, such as the mural of St Basil’s Cathedral painted by local artist Kelly Stephens Anderson, which graces the room of my client’s son, who was adopted from Russia.   Kelly pulled colors from Sam’s existing bedroom to create her stylized version of St. Basil’s and, when she was finished, we found it a perfect backdrop for Sam’s daybed.  We even discovered that the colors in his grandma’s quilt made the perfect cover to coordinate with the mural.  We added fun pillows and a coordinating striped dust-ruffle, and he loved the results.

Murals can also be enormously detailed and three dimensional,  such as the amazing ceiling painting, by Jean-André Rixens. Salle des Illustres, Le Capitole, Toulouse, France, which appears to soar into the heavens with lion-drawn chariots and guardian angels soaring overhead.  So many techniques are used in creating a mural like this that I can’t even begin to cover them all.  Just remember that this was a painting done long before computer automated design, laser tools, or projection screens were ever invented.

Painting a mural isn’t easy.  Artistic knowledge of perspective,  scale, and dimension are required.  Oconee County has access to some of the most  talented artists in the world, so if you want it done correctly, hire them.

However, if you are very artistic and creative, go for it!  After all, it’s only paint, right?  Take a class  if you wish, or study the technique through dozens of available books.   Or perhaps just give it a try with a chalk outline on your wall to see how it looks without full commitment. Chalk cleans off easily if you aren't happy with your results.  If your child would like to create his or her own on-going mural, paint the walls with chalkboard paint and let them get artistic daily!

If you aren’t artistic, can’t afford to hire an artist, but still want a mural, take heart.  You can have your own photograph blown up into a mural and have it installed like wallpaper. There are also a lot of ready-made wallpaper murals available.   

Use the photos and links in this story to spark your imagination.  Walk around your house and look at it from a different perspective.  Where can you add a mural?