Categories: Decorating & Design

Make Your Own Wall Murals from Shadows

Wall murals are lovely, and can add a certain elegance to a room, but for quality murals you’ll pay big money. Even then, you’re limited to designs that the manufacturer chooses. You can have any design you want, though, when you make the murals yourself. And, in fact, you can make dozens of your own murals for the price of one manufactured mural.

Most wall murals are scenes that are printed onto paper, which is then affixed to the wall. And whether they’re pre-pasted, peel-n-stick, or transfers, you’ll spend a good amount of time getting the murals onto the wall. After that, you have to worry about furniture bumping and scraping the art. Or, perhaps the biggest worry, making sure things like sunlight or dust don’t damage the mural and cause it to become unsightly.

If you make your own murals, they can be washed down, touched up, and otherwise bumped and abused. That’s because your own murals will be hand drawn onto the walls. Say you’re no artist? You don’t have to be! It’s easy to draw just about anything onto your wall when you use shadows as your guide.

We’ve all seen shadows on our walls when we have lamps on at home. The shadows can become the patterns for your wall mural. A houseplant, for example, can be set on a small table or chair, with a bright lamp behind it, so that the shadow from the plant is cast upon the wall. Use paint pens to outline the image of the plant. It’s easy and very accurate.

You can outline the image, and leave it at that, or you can fill in the blank areas of the object using your choice of paint pen color. Paint pens come in a huge variety of colors, including metallic colors and pearl-like shades. After you’ve accumulated a small assortment of colors you can do many murals.

The objects you use are almost unlimited. A bunch of balloons, a chair and lamp, an artificial tree – just about anything that casts a shadow can become part of your wall art. All that’s necessary is the bright light and the object itself.

If you feel uncertain about your ability to make these designs, practice on a piece of cardboard, or cardboard box. Set an object, with a lamp behind it, to cast the shadow onto the box. Practice using paint pens, or other paints of your choice. After you’ve practiced for a little while you’ll feel confident to move on to the wall project.

Through normal cleaning, or normal wear and tear, the wall images may become faded or scratched. That’s okay, though, because all you have to do is give some areas a quick touch-up, and the mural is as good as new.

The do-it-yourself wall murals can be little, on a small section of wall, or can be huge, on a long or large wall. For high-up places, try using a ladder to set objects on, or even build a small catwalk-like platform between two ladders, so that you can cast the object’s shadow.

You’ll love the elegant look of your wall murals, and you’ll love the ease with which you created them. They’ll add a classy touch to any room of the house, but why stop there? The same technique can be used to create designs on headboards, footboards, doors and more.

Get a cardboard box, get a couple magic markers – if that’s all you have right now – and practice a couple designs. You’ll be ready to create a gorgeous wall mural in no time, and wow, will your friends and family be impressed!