Megan McKeithan, of Visionary Mural Co., creates beautiful children’s murals specifically designed for your family. Choose a favorite children’s book or illustration theme for a mural in your nursery, child’s bedroom or play room. If you are inspired by famous children’s characters, be sure to create them exactly the way you want them with works like Megan’s murals inspired by Disney’s Winnie the Pooh, Graham Rust’s Cinderella, and Cicely Mary Barker’s Flower Fairies featured here. Megan even created a mural on canvas for one child’s room based on three of his favorite stories. The Bambi mural was actually inspired by Disney’s Bambi but included Peter Rabbit from Beatrix Potter and a tiny Dinosaur Train inspired by the popular PBS television show. (Be sure to give credit to the inspiration pieces for your room; the original artists who created them should always be acknowledged and honored with your interpretation of their work!)…
Create any mural or decorative motif to suit your tastes and child’s furnishings. Often a natural motif is a beautiful and gender-neutral way to create a room that will grow with your child. If you are trying to work within a budget, you can select a wall color that coordinates with the mural’s theme and paint images straight onto the wall without background as shown here in the wildflowers mural or the Disney-inspired Winnie the Pooh mural. Or you can use a limited color palette like the Cinderella mural inspired by Graham Rust or the sports-themed mural. Murals that are monochromatic (one color) or of limited color palette can lend sophistication to a children’s themed project.
It’s important to think about customizing your mural to your family. Often Megan includes references to the family without being too obvious. For example, the sports themed mural shown here includes a football jersey in the color and number of the professional team the father played for – a wonderful surprise for him that Megan planned with the mother for their son’s room. Another detail included to personalize murals can be placing a bird or bee or dragonfly at the same height as the child when the mural was painted, as Megan did in the Cinderella room. She also painted violets in the wildflower mural to honor the child’s grandmother, Miss Violet. Little details like these go a long way in creating the custom design perfect for your children and for the whole family. When selecting these details, you may also consider keeping them specific to your family, but not so specific that someone who buys the house might not be able to use them. For example, the football Jersey doesn’t include the team name or logo, so someone else could see it as a jersey for any team. In addition, butterflies fly around everywhere, a new home owner doesn’t have to to connect it to the child for whom it was originally painted…
You can also limit the amount of wall space covered by the mural, as shown in the rainbow mural. The wall color was pink and the wall paper borders spanned the room already when Megan McKeithan added the rainbow mural and sky with butterflies to enhance the room. Blending out the mural or ending it in a corner are ways to integrate into the rest of the room while limiting size and helping budget…
When thinking about your children’s mural, first look at the room you are interested in painting and determine which wall is the focal wall of the room. Find that by walking into the room and taking note of which wall or walls you naturally see first. This can be the focal point of your mural, or where you can feature the most important elements of your mural design. Often people want to paint the whole room with a mural, which is beautiful, but you also choose to paint only the focal wall or parts of the room if you are trying to work within a particular budget. Next, collect the measurements of the walls including ceiling height and any imagery of elements you like and might want to include in the mural design. Megan always has visual resources for your mural, but having pictures of elements or styles you like to start with is very helpful. Also, take pictures of the room and the furnishings you have, along with any fabrics you have or are planning. These will help determine the color palette of the mural and coordinate the entire design. Having these items ready will make planning your mural with Megan all the easier.
Children’s murals also work well painted on canvas like the Flower Fairies mural inspired by Cicely Mary Barker and the Bambi mural inspired by Disney mural shown here. Painting on canvas allows Megan to paint in the studio and then ship the mural anywhere. The examples shown here are canvases stretched around a wooden frame and painted around the edges. Megan also paints on larger canvases that are glued to the wall like wall paper. Either option is removable and can be re-installed if the clients want to move…
One other side note, don’t be fooled into thinking murals make a home too customized. If you plan it well and execute it gracefully, a mural can enhance the value of your home both to you and to potential buyers. Several clients have reported selling their homes with the help of their murals. Think about it. Perspective home buyers look at multiple homes of the same size, plan, and school district, often within the same neighborhood. If you have a beautiful piece of art that really fits well in the home, you can push your house to the front of the pack and make the difference in sale or no sale…
Megan paints much larger murals in a vast array of themes and styles, visit www.VisionaryMuralCo.com to see more of her portfolio and learn more about murals, trompe l’oeil illusions, and complete environments.
