Kid's Mural Idea
Bugs and insects
The inspiration for this child wall mural....?
This gorgeous rug

Click here for this and more kid's' Rugs.
(See this rug on page 2)


A wall mural - The basic concept
Ask your mural artist to paint these little fellows around the room, as big or as small as you like. With the rug on the floor it'll will look fabulous. Pick out background wall colours for the rest of the child's room to match the rug.

Kids decor idea
Paint each wall a different colour chosen from the rug.

Wall mural idea
Paint the bottom third of the wall with the pattern seen on the outside of the rug. Choose a second colour for the top part of the wall. Run a wooden rail along the join of the two colours. Before fixing the rail to the wall, paint it red or blue like the thin stripe in this rug. Paint in the bugs around the room and voila! A gorgeous room!

Kids wall mural Idea
Paint the bugs a little larger than life size and give them a drop shadow to create a simple trompe l'oeil. Paint them in groups and singly around the room.

Kids decor Idea
Use a coordinating wallpaper for the lower half of the wall instead of paint. Have a look at some of these wallpapers on the right which would go very nicely with the mural and the rug.

DIY
If you think you'd like to paint your kids' wall mural yourself, here is a guide on how to go about it.

You will need

  • Acrylic wall paint in the colours chosen from the posters. (Use tester pots available a DIY shops, or artists acrylic paints).
  • White acrylic paint to dilute the colours.
  • Masking tape to mask off your skirting boards.
  • Tracing paper or overhead transparent film.
  • Paint brushes (Various sizes).
  • An overhead projector (optional).
  • Access to a photocopier (optional)
  • Coloured crayon to draw the design onto the wall.

Unless you have a reasonable amount of artistic ability, I would suggest you make use of an overhead projector to enlarge the butterflies and bugs onto the wall.
If you don't want to paint them really big, just use a photocopier to obtain the required size.

  1. First, paint the walls in your chosen colours, a different one on each wall perhaps.
    If you find the colours in the picture too intense for your liking find a paler tone of the colour.

  2. Trace the bugs from the rug onto overhead transparent film or tracing paper and either project the designs onto the wall or use a photocopier to adjust the size of your tracings and make a number of copies.

  3. On a piece of paper work roughly where you would like to paint the bugs.

  4. Tape all your photocopies to the wall and
    make sure you are happy with the layout.

  5. To transfer the designs to the wall use either transfer paper or rub the back of the paper with a soft graphite pencil. When you draw over the lines, the design will be transfered to the wall.

  6. Paint your mural design in colours to match the ones in the print.

  7. To create a simple trompe l'oeil, trace the outlines of the bug, then move it picture down and to one side, trace again to create the oulines for a shadow thrown by the bug.(See the diagram above).

  8. Paint the shadow a pale grey, and then paint the butterfly as in the rug.
    Keep the position of each bugs' shadow consistant. It will look more convincing if you decide where your light source is coming from and then keep the shadows in the same position. (ie down and to the right, or down and to the left)

Good luck, and if you do this children' mural, please send me photos of it so I can include them in the website.
Click here to Send your photos to me

TIPS
If you use a graphite pencil to draw the design on the wall, do it very lightly as it can show through the paint and be impossible to remove. It is better to use a water soluble crayon or a coloured pencil in a colour similar to the final paint colour.

Use tester pots of acrylic wall paint available form DIY and paint stores. They come in small quantities and are inexpensive. Mix them with white to create a subtle version of the colours in the rug.

 

The painted mural idea


Trompe l'oeil bug and butterfly mural

To create the simple trompe l'oeil

  1. Trace the outlines of the bug,
  2. Move the picture down and to one side. Trace again to create the oulines for a shadow thrown by the bug.
  3. Paint the shadow a pale grey and then paint in the colours of the butterfly.

 

Wallpaper ideas
DZF7F36
DZ7AE4B

Click here to see these wallpapers.
To find each wallpaper, use their search facility inserting the pattern numbers shown below each picture.

Click here for this and more kid's' Rugs.
(See this rug on page 2)