mural for nursery wall

[lazyemma]

hello

I'm planning to do a big mural on my daughter's nursery wall. I'm thinking of an aquatic theme, with lots of colourful friendly looking fish, a yellow submarine etc.

I was wondering if anyone has any experience of this, in particular what sort of paint to use (poster paint? emulsion?) and how best to plan it so it doesn't look a disaster - should I plan it out on paper first, with a grid and so forth?

[Whizzz]

See this thread here Loopy might be the one to ask

[loopyredangel]

Hiya lazyemma - the best way to plan a mural is to do a rough sketch on paper - it will give you a good basis for drawing your images onto the wall.
-if you are not confident enough to draw the characters by freehand see if you can borrow a projector.
-don't overload the wall with too many images, keep it simple
-give your background a softer effect under sea, sponge or colour wash your background first, then paint on seaweed or be creative and add 3D seaweed using felt.

• use emulsion for your base coat - then acrylics for your characters (you can get these from an art shop)
  
• you could also paint the characters onto lining paper then cut them out and paste to the wall - that way you can decided where the character looks best on your background!
  If I think of anything else I will let you know - or if there is anything else you can think of give me a shout!
  I did a friends room once and painted fish on thin MDF, attached blue velcro to the back and the wall so her kids could move them around. I made a bubble mobile using pearly christmas baubles - and had Tigger swimming wearing trunks, snorkel and flippers.

[lazyemma]

thank you thank you loopy! See for the base coat, I was thinking of having different shades of blue - darker at the bottom, fading to lighter at the top. What's the best way to achieve this, do you think? One pot of blue emulsion, one pot of white, and mix to shade? Will the acrylic paint stand out when I paint the characters on the darker blues, or will I have to do a few layers?

I really like the idea of the stick-on fish - that's brilliant and I may well use it.

thanks very much for your help.

[loopyredangel]

YOu may not want to do the background too dark or you will end up with a room that isn't light and bright, and yes you would need to paint several coats for the characters.
I would get one tin of paint, and start of darker at the bottom, get some empty paint tins and pre mix you different shades of blue so you get an even tone when applying to the wall, each time you add a new layer of colour blend with your previos layer of paint so you don't end up with a harsh line.
You coul if you are feeling adventurous make your yellow submarine out of MDF and drill small holes in the windows, add a small light behind it, so at night the submarine will light up. Also another MDF cutout shark, paint the underneath of a shark and hang from the ceiling using using chain and hooks.

[lazyemma]

oh yes, good shout about the background not being too dark. The room doesn't get a huge amount of natural light and I don't want it to look gloomy.

I like the idea of MDF cutouts, especially for the submarine - that'd look brilliant I reckon. I'll have to see how handy my husband is with his jigsaw!

thanks again.

[loopyredangel]

Have you been brave and made a start on your mural yet?