Wall murals are fun and can make a big statement in a room. They can also be a little intimidating, but they’re really easy! I’ll show you how to paint a mural in a child’s bedroom.
When we moved into our new house I knew I wanted to go big! I’ve always had such a hard time deciding what theme to do in the kids rooms, but I knew I wanted to paint the walls and have them be fun and unique. So wall murals was definitely the way to go.
My kids are 3 and 5, so they’re not super great at decision making. But after talking with them, we decided on some themes.
For Bugs, we decided on a space theme because he had some wall decals in our old house that he loved. For Little Miss, rainbows.
I started with Bugs room, as his would be the biggest mural. The walls would be a dark blue to simulate space. Then, I’d draw a huge rocket ship blasting towards our solar system.
How to Paint a Mural in a Child’s Bedroom
Paint the Background First
To start, I painted two walls with the dark blue background color. I picked a bunch of color swatches from Sherwin Williams and with Bugs help, we decided on ‘In the Navy’.
Draw on the Wall in Chalk
After the background color dries, draw out the design you want on the wall in chalk. I let the paint dry for about a week so that it would be easy to wipe the chalk with a wet rag and the paint would be really set.
I find chalk easier to erase than pencil. If you’re using a light color, get colored chalk, otherwise white chalk will work.
Primer
If you’re painting over a dark background, you’re going to want to primer. I know this seems like kind of backwards since you just painted your base color. But it will be a lot easier to cover if you use a primer.
What Paints to Use
This is up to you. You do not have to use wall paint for your mural. In fact, it is very cost prohibitive to use wall paints.
I used $1-2 acrylic paints from Michael’s. For the spaceship I used 6 colors, for a total of around $12.
What Paint Brush to Use
I found using craft paint brushes to be the easiest to paint small details in tight spaces. It was also easier to blend the colors together to create the fire effect coming out of the space ship.
Wipe Off the Chalk
Once the piece is fully dry, you can wipe off any chalk that remains with a slightly damp towel.
I love the way this spaceship mural turned out! It’s fun and unique and
