Well, if you agree that most murals are really cool, and you have a mural on at least one wall in the house, you do! Murals are no longer for library walls and graffiti artists; they are finding their way into our homes as well.

It’s been coming for awhile, now. The trend toward mural painting has been in the works; from highly detailed wallpaper treatments to giant stickers.  Decorators (whether they are pros or average joes) are turning to murals as a way to enhance the decoration of a room all while reflecting the personality of the room’s inhabitant.

If you’ve been looking for a way to tie everything in a room together, having a mural done can help you achieve this. Of course, starting with a mural and adding accessories and décor around the room to complement the mural is another way to go. Since most of us do not have the talent to pick up a brush, walk up to the wall, and walk away again with a great mural behind us, we have to turn to other options if we are going to indeed have this art form on our walls.

One way to go is to hire an artist. If you hire a professional, you are probably looking at quite a lot of money.  Things to ask an artist:  are supplies included in the fee, or do you have to buy those in addition? How much time will the artist require? Is the charge by the hour or by the job? What level of detail will you get?  Artists have not always been known to be the most organized; will they show up on time and get the job done in a reasonable amount of time? Are there any provisions made for touch-ups or repairs? How much of a mess will it be, and will you be able to use the room while the work is being done?  Just make sure you have ironed out all of the details first, check references and read the contract thoroughly before signing.

Hiring a professional would definitely give you the most unique results, but you have to gauge whether it is worth the time, expense and inconvenience versus the other options that are available.

Pros:  Hiring a professional would definitely give you the most unique results.
Cons:  Time, mess.
Cost:  $$$$$
Difficulty:  None

You can also hire an artist-in-training; a poor college student attending art school, who would much rather paint a mural than pour coffee! Keep your desires simple, ask for samples of what the mural may look like, and you may be amazed at what they’ll produce.

Pros:  Unique results, less expensive that a professional.
Cons:  Time, mess, not a professional so you don’t know exactly what you will get.
Cost:  $$$
Difficulty:  None

If you really, truly, want to do it yourself, there are lots of options available.  Some of these auctions include:

Stenciling

There are now several different ways of creating the look by taking a design template and painting it yourself.

1) You can use a projector to show the design onto the wall, and then trace the lines.

2) Another method is a stencil paper that you tape to the walls.  You would then trace the design with a pen, and an outline is left on the walls. 

3) Buying plastic templates, adhering them to the wall and painting in the designs

Whichever method above you choose to get the outline, you then have to paint the designs in yourself, trying to stay in the lines and make it look neat.  If you have a steady hand it could work out really well, but for those who never could keep a crayon neatly in the lines on a paper might find it even more frustrating trying to keep a paintbrush within the lines on the walls!  Then if you can’t finish in one day, you have to clean up the supplies each day.

Pros: Unique designs that you can put together and create custom color schemes.  If old enough, your child can help you be a part of creating the room.
Cons:  Time, mess
Cost:   $$$
Difficulty:  Moderate

The newest trend in wall decorating is using a technique to transfer extremely thin designs directly onto the wall, thus giving the look and feel of them being painted directly onto the wall.  The term tatouage (French for tattoo) is given to these type of designs, similar to the term Trompe L'oeil (French for fool the eye) to describe the look of creating the feeling of being outdoors when your really not.   The French really have a way with words!  The tatouage style designs range from extremely thin vinyl lettering, to a paint like dry rub transfer.  These create the look of having hand painted the sayings and designs directly on your walls.   

Dry Rub Transfers / Wall Tatouage

This is a great new way to get the look of custom painted murals without the cost, time or mess.  The designs are applied by simply rubbing them onto the walls where you want them.  After rubbing, you remove the top sheet and the design stays on the wall.  It is dry to the touch, but honestly you would have an extremely hard time telling that it wasn’t actually painted on there.  The transfers are thin that there isn’t any type of bump like you would get with wallpaper cutouts or stickers.

Another great benefit of using this type of item is that it is easy to apply, with no mess and very little clean up (you just throw the transfer paper away).  And if you are doing a larger project, you don’t have paint to put away and brushes to clean.  You simply put down your applicator stick and walk away until you are ready to start again.

Lastly, although you cannot reuse the dry rub designs, you don’t have to remove them either when you want to change the décor; you simply repaint right over them.

Pros:  Hand painted look, cute designs.
Cons: Not reusable
Cost: $$$
Difficulty:  Easy to Moderate depending on the design

Wall Words / Vinyl Lettering

Another of the latest trends is using very thin vinyl lettering to put names, custom sayings or quotes on the walls.  They come in a variety of colors, fonts and sayings and are fairly easy to put up.  

Pros:  Easy to create custom quotes, personalize names.
Cons: Must remove before decorating, can leave residue
Cost: $$
Difficulty:  Easy to Moderate depending on the design

You can use a combination of all the different items to create a truly unique room.

Wallpaper Cutouts & Murals

Wallpaper cutouts came about because people use to just cut out the designs from a wallpaper roll and use those to decorate.  The wallpaper companies caught on, and now they do it for you!  It’s a great way to create fun murals, borders and accent pieces.  Since the designs are pre-cut, all you do is wet them and stick them to your wall.  Some of the manufacturers like WalliesTM include removable dots to hand the cutouts until you decide where you want to permanently apply them.  There are also mural versions of the cutouts as well, and now they came out with an even larger “Big Mural” which has some really fun designs.

Pros:  Cute designs, good selection, can create unique room designs.
Cons: Must be removed when you repaint.
Cost: $$
Difficulty:  Easy

Removable Adhesive Stickers

These are great for a fad design or if you live in a rental where you can’t have anything permanent.  The self adhesive stickers are removable and are extremely easy to apply, and change and reapply if you want.  There are hundreds of different designs, and the cost varies greatly by manufacturer.  They have larger “mural” versions of these stickers which can cost a few hundred dollars to some cute ones you can get at the dollar store. 

While they are reusable, they are only reusable to a point.  I do find that younger children play with them, peeling them and moving them to the point that they loose their adhesiveness or the edges get curled, and dirty so they don’t look too good.  Most manufacturers state that there is no residue, but honestly some can actually leave a residue or ring.

Pros:  Cute designs, good selection, easy to change.
Cons: Must be removed when you repaint.
Cost: $ - $$$
Difficulty:  Super Easy

Wallpaper Murals (Large)

Wallpaper murals can give you the photographic look, or the great detail that you want without the cost.  While they aren’t cheap, they aren’t nearly as expensive as hiring a professional to hand paint the design either.  There are thousands of designs to choose from, and they paper has improved considerably since I applied (and removed) my first wallpaper mural.

Pros:  Beautiful images and designs, large selection.
Cons: Difficulty lining the seams ups; Removal (in some cases).
Cost: $$$
Difficulty:  Moderate