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Original poster

Children's bedroom murals - what do you think?

31 replies

Guinness1 · 04/05/2005 19:01

I left my job in December to have a baby and she duly arrived in January and is fantastic and I love her to bits.

Now she's 3 months old however, the question of working/earning money is looming. My old job was demanding with long hours and to be honest I was pretty fed-up with it and with my gorgeous little girl I really don't want to return to the career treadmill.

However, I'm going to need to do something and something I dabbled in prior to bambino was painting murals on children's bedroom walls (friends children - done as a favour not for money) and I also did a few nursey's (again not for money). Murals included a few disney ones (Little Mermaid, Micky Mouse, Whinne the Pooh), plus a few generic ones (Under the Sea, Farmyards, Wizards). And I've been wandering if this is something I could earn some money from and wandered what you all thought?

Any thoughts/suggestions/advice gratefully received.

Thank you.

OP posts:
Rinkydink · 04/05/2005 19:20

I think it's a great idea! My sister-in-law had her daughters bedroom done, in fairies and flowers, absolutley gorgeous, but it cost an arm and a leg!
Good money to be made if you're good and willing to travel. And advertise yourself! From local YMCA, to toddler groups, play groups, churches, aswel as the local papers.
It would take chunks of time away from your baby, perhaps a couple days at a time? But as a part time thing, could be well worth it.

LGJ · 04/05/2005 19:25

We had DS room done with the magic roundabout, well before it became fashionable again, we paid nigh on £200 for it and it was money well spent.

Twiglett · 04/05/2005 19:36

if you're doing it commercially I think you might need to be careful about using disney characters

I looked into this for DS' room but there was no way on earth I could afford it, you'd have to market carefully (do a google search and check out people's websites) to people who could afford it and be willing to pay for the time it takes

in the end we did a fabulous Dinosaur room with something I found online (can't find the site now .. , nor remember their name)

Twiglett · 04/05/2005 19:37

jeez £200 would not have bothered me, they were talking more like 3K

Hulababy · 04/05/2005 19:38

We would love something like this, but have to say that the price would be the thing that would put me off. This type of thing is normally so expensive.

But it is a great idea.

LGJ · 04/05/2005 19:39

3k

Twiglett · 04/05/2005 19:40

DS' room

LGJ · 04/05/2005 19:40

Guinness1, you do it and I will hold your paint pot for a share of £3k

katzguk · 04/05/2005 19:44

sounds like a great idea, having just done DD's room i think you could make money out of it. DD's room can't have cost us much more than £50 inc. the background paint.

DD room

Like others have said you might just have to stear clear of characters such as mickey and co, but doing fairy themed rooms and castles ect would be great.

whymummy · 04/05/2005 20:16

hi guinness i want to do it too,i'm just waiting to get my driving license so i can travel,i also have done mine and my friend's children's bedrooms plus murals at the school,like you for nothing but is great practise and i enjoy it so much i don't mind but i would love to make a living from it,i went to the hospital with ds last friday and i was admiring the murals on the children's ward and the lady that came to explain about ds operation asked me if i liked them i said yes and that i did them as well so she took my number as she works for another hospital and they have a newly renovated childrens ward and i could do the murals,i love to do it.at the moment i'm like you i don't know where to start but just asking around and maybe putting a few adds in toddler groups,schools etc may gets us started,good luck

BethAndHerBrood · 04/05/2005 20:23

I'd love someone to do this in my DS and DD rooms. I have the artistic ability of a gnat!!!

kid · 04/05/2005 20:36

I'd love to get DS's room done too but we can't decide what theme to go for. I just want to get it over and done with, we are up to our elbows decorating and DH reckoned the whole house would have been done by April 05.

hub2dee · 04/05/2005 20:58

Guinness1 - if you can take photos of your previous work why not stick them in an online album, and when people mention murals / nurseries / decorating etc. point them to your album. If there's no interest you've wasted a few hours sorting out your portfolio, and if there is, and it's convenient to travel to, you've got the beginning of a business !

jenkel · 04/05/2005 21:29

I would also love somebody to do this for both my dds room, but again price has put me off and also havent been able to easily find somebody who does it locally.

I'm sure there is a market for this kind of thing, you just need to make sure that you price it well, not so expensive that you price yourself out of the market.

I would also imagine that disney themes is a no no if you are going to do it commercially.

You could advertise on here and also netmums in the areas that you are willing to travel too.

Presume that you have some form of childcare, not sure how you would do it with a child in tow.

And what area would you travel too, I may well be one of your customers some day.....

Original poster
Guinness1 · 05/05/2005 17:24

Thank you all so much for your feedback - I'm now all inspired, so I think I'll start working on some designs and get my photo's of previous murals sorted out. I think you're right though I'm going to have to steer clear of charcter's which will be copy writed like Disney.

Can I ask what is probably a stupid question but I'm new to all this - what does DD, DH etc mean?

Thanks again for all your help and the fab picture's - I'll let you know how I get on.

OP posts:
golds · 05/05/2005 17:30

dd - dear daughter
ds - dear son
dh - dear husband

Think its a good idea, somebody I know from school does it, not sure how much she charges though

spots · 05/05/2005 17:56

I have done a few murals: schools, riding centre and domestic. It's great to do but can be hard finding enough work esp. at domestic level... not so many people want to actually live with them! I would advise publicising yourself as widely as possible. And if anyone asks you about exterior murals, do lots of research into paints before you commit - weathering is a huge issue.

Any questions, do CAT me - and good luck!

swiperfox · 05/05/2005 19:05

I would love to do murals as a living. I did a practice on dd's walls ages a go with some disney characters - they were not too bad considering it was my first try and freehand, except the Nemo one is really bad!!!!

They are \link{http://photobucket.com/albums/v505/zephyrcat/disneywalls/\here)

I also do acrylics on big canvasses. I've been asked for specific characters/boy/girl ones and people seem to really like them.
Not sure if i could advertise to sell them though - might be a problem with Disney - but on the other hand if someone is asking me to do it they aren't going to report me are they?? (I hope!!!)

swiperfox · 05/05/2005 19:06

try again!! here

LunarSea · 05/05/2005 20:33

Twiglett - was it Frieze Frame you got the dinosaurs from? I'm looking at this for ds's room but was wondering if it was actually as easy to do as they make it sound?

Twiglett · 05/05/2005 20:40

yes it is fairly easy if a little time consuming - took about a week to do evenings alone (painting backgrounds, cutting out each piece and sticking them on) and I stuck everything up with blu-tac first before pasting it to check on position (you need to be careful with perspective on the dinosaur one)

Twiglett · 05/05/2005 20:40

thanks for finding the site again though

hub2dee · 05/05/2005 20:49

I do hope the Moo's room is just as pretty, Twig.

Twiglett · 05/05/2005 20:52

Nah - we keep her in a box

JoolsToo · 05/05/2005 20:56

very niiiiiiiiiiiiice Twiglett. Does your poor ds go to bed with no sheets?

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