Adding Faux Architectural Interest

My husband and I went to a party at our neighbor's house a while back and I loved what the builder did above their fireplace.  They had a nice inset cove that added a lot of detail to the fireplace.  I knew I wouldn't be able to talk my DH into building one in for me, so I decided to paint my own:

I taped off the area where the shadow would be and then using the wall paint mixed with a little bit of black, I painted in a shadow.  After that was dry, I taped off the shadow and added a highlight around it using watered down white paint.  The decor was a work in progress when the picture was taken!  Here is another view of it when entering the room.  People are seriously shocked when they find out it is not real.  When we sold the house, I mentioned that to the buyers during the closing and found out that they thought it was real as well! 

Cute Nursery for a Boy or Girl

This nursery was designed for a boy, but it would work well for a girl too!  The walls are painted a light sage green with cream trim.  Then I added a fun graphic mural based on a scrapbooking element:

The branches were just done in a solid brown color, and the leaves in a solid medium green.  I then used the wall paint to paint the veins on the leaves- much easier than trying to not paint that area!  The circles were painted using different sized lids that I held to the wall and traced around them directly with a loaded paint brush.  Then I painted some replica Calvin and Hobbes artwork to go in the room:

This nursery styling should be able to stay for a while as the baby grows!

Skater Room

Here's an idea of what to do with a tween boy's room that will hopefully grow with him for a few years!  I started out by painting the bed with skater graphics:

Really easy to do with a projector and paint markers!  The room the bed is in now was not going to be the bedroom that it went into- although the colors worked really well in here!  In the new room, I painted two walls a light grey and two a darker grey.  Then using my projector and some skater graphics (I found some online and drew some), I painted a mural on one of the light grey walls using the darker grey color:

The next project was to add some valances to the windows.  I used cheap super thin mdf and 2x4's to create some simple boxes.  They were then painted cream to match the home's existing trim and then I added skateboarding posters picked up for free at a local skate shop:

We added a few more favorite posters- including a huge one on the ceiling above the bed.  

Dr. Seuss Room

Another fun project I did recently was a Dr. Seuss nursery that will hopefully grow with her for a while:

The room was prepped for me with the sky and hills already painted.  I came in and added a few of their favorite characters to the walls and then did a growth chart on canvas so it can be removed if they happen to move and want to take it with them!

Cars Mural and Cheerleading Mural

When my s-i-l told me she was going to decorate her new nursery in the Cars theme, I had the perfect gift idea- a custom Cars name mural:

I painted this one on a canvas drop cloth- I have also used canvas on the roll bought at fabric stores.  I have started painting a lot of my children's murals on canvas so that they can be easily removed as the child grows.  I install them with wall paper paste when finished.  *Note: you need to paint the back of the canvas as well so that the canvas doesn't adhere to the wall permanently! 

I also created a matching one for his older brother who shares the room, plus a cheerleading one for his big sis:

Murals for El Paradisio

A few years back, I was asked to do several murals for a home that was featured in the Parade of Homes.  Here are some of the murals from that project:

This was the "feature" mural in the main dining room, visible from the entry way.  The house in the upper left corner is my artistic rendering of the actual house.

This is a wine label mural for the bar area- uninstalled.  Several of my murals had to be done on canvas and applied to the walls since the time frame for my working in the house was really short.  They were painted on canvas you can buy by the roll at most fabric stores.  They were installed with wall paper paste.  You can see the tabs around the mural- those were used to thumb tack it into place while the paste dried and then I used a razor blade to cut them off.

Another one that was done on canvas and applied later to the wine tasting room.  I did three of these faux windows total, but this was my favorite!

Detail of the painting- notice the wine label is the same as the wine label mural.

Another detail of one of the other faux windows.  I snuck my name onto the spine of the book just for the fun of it. 

One of the ceilings I painted.  I did two like this and another in the tower/turret room, but it was really hard to photograph!

A map of Italy that I painted on the office wall.  I was able to work with the plasterer ( plaster artist?) and I taped off the portion of the wall where I wanted the mural to go before he did his thing.  Then was able to paint the mural on the untextured area.

Juliet balcony with a raised plaster detail.  I designed the giant stencil and had it custom made.  After I plastered it and it dried, I antiqued the edges since it was a little bit had to see from the floor below.

Another raised plaster custom stencil job above the doorway!