How To Create A Mural

You can create a stunning wall without the need for expensive wallpaper

I love wallpaper, in fact I had a love of wallpaper before it became popular again. I have a long history for loving things before they are actually in vogue, you only have to look at the way I dress! With the whole house to renovate, from building staircases and re pointing we decided that the children’s rooms should be the priority. Also designing and decorating rooms for children is the most fun ever. If you don’t believe me read this post and this one.

The playroom has already gone through a few transformations. When I first arranged the playroom we only had Sebastian and everything was very Montessori inspired and accessible and then we had Humphrey and all of a sudden there was a safety issue with toys. Choking, pointy edges and his need to smash and destroy everything Sebastian had needed to be addressed. You see any room with children involved needs to be able to grow with them and easily changed, which means not too expensive.

Like all self respecting bloggers I spent a huge amount of time trawling the internet for things I love and I found the wallpaper that hit the mark. The problem was it cost over £100 per roll and  to cover my huge Victorian walls I would need a lot. I felt the dragons and castles would not grow with them, the design felt too restrictive. I realised what I loved was the white line drawing on a vibrant blue background. All I needed to do was find the right blue and work on an image that allowed the room to grow as my children did.

For the blue I chose St Giles Blue from Farrow and Ball. I have spoken in detail about my thoughts on expensive paint brands, you can read those thoughts here. I wanted just one feature wall so the rest of the room is in cabbage white which is actually a really pale blue.

I chose to draw a simple mountain scape along the bottom of the wall in posca paint pens. If you have not used these before they are a wonder. You can use them to draw on a variety of surfaces. They are made by Uni-ball and you can buy them in most art shops. A stylised mountain image on repeat is a design that will grow with the room and the children.

As the room design changed, namely more cupboards, higher shelves and a swing the mountains needed more. The image became lost at the bottom and needed extending upwards. Clouds seemed to obvious and not in keeping with the stylized theme so I went with circles of various sizes that could echo some of the fillers that are in the mountain scape.

I couldn’t be happier with how the wall has turned out and the pens are so easy to use and it was far easier to keep crisp lines as opposed to using a fine brush and paint.

Have you ever considered drawing your own wallpaper?