Murals and Trompe L'oeil

While often thought of as an adornment for commercial settings, having a mural in a residential setting is not uncommon. Instead of a plain, solid color wall or setting to hang pictures, some homeowners are getting creative with their walls. Creating a mural in your home can express the individuality of the person or people who live there, but a mural is also able to bring new feeling to a room that can complement what is already there and become a point of interest for friends and visitors.

About Murals
Technically, murals are scenes or objects painted on walls or other surfaces, such as floors, ceilings, or furniture, which may or may not be life-sized or realistic looking (for example, murals of a scene from an animated movie are often painted on the wall in a child's room). Murals made of small pieces of tile or glass commonly known as mosaics are also an option, though not every mural painter will be able to create a mosaic and vice-versa. In older homes, consumers may need to repaint their walls or hire a drywall specialist to smooth them before the specialty painter arrives. As is true of all painting, it is important to hire an experienced, licensed professional. Many special products are only available to professionals. Mixing paints and applying them over existing finished surfaces involves chemistry and sometimes, in spite of careful preparations, results may not turn out as intended. That is when the expertise of a professional is crucial to get a job done right.

Trompe L'oeil Murals
A trompe l'oeil mural is a combination of the more technical skill of a specialty house painter and commissioned art. The skill involves using extremely realistic imagery and optical illusion to create a three-dimensional impression on a flat surface, in this case the walls or ceilings of your home. Like tattoos, trompe l'oeil is edgy, fashionable, and can be used to disastrous or stunning effects, depending on the skill and eye of the painter, as well as the guidance and selection of the homeowner. Few projects rely so heavily on previous work and customer referrals. If you don't like what the painter has done, the project is a tough sell. Plus, trompe l'oeil comes in many forms and mediums. An artist may excel at body paint or cathedral-style trompe l'oeil, while having a more difficult time translating the effect to the smaller space of your living or dining room. Meanwhile, a professional house painter who knows everything about interior paint and drywall may be able to create some stunning, trompe l'oeil effects.

DIY Murals and Parenting
Anybody with an artistic bent can paint their own mural, but few homeowners are willing to showcase their "doodles" as their choice for interior decorating. That said, if you have a kid in high school, you might find some interesting parental leverage by offering your "young adult" the opportunity to paint his or her own bedroom walls. Let's face it: You were going to redecorate that room when he or she left for college. Might as well let them get creative, if they want. Use it as a reward/bribe to help motivate your children to excel.

Finding Professional, Specialty House Painters
Hiring someone to create a mural in your home is usually not something that is done through a general contractor. However, it's advisable for the specialty painter to consult with the builder and/or traditional painter on a new construction project to properly prepare new walls or other surface and for project scheduling. If you're wondering about costs, data collected from ServiceMagic suggests the average cost for mural painting is $1,488, while specialty painting and/or faux finishes for your entire painting project averages $2,044.

Naturally, the person you choose to create your mural should have a portfolio that is both accessible and to your liking. You can find a mural painter through ServiceMagic, or you may want to have a look in your local galleries or other places where art is displayed, and contact the artist or artists directly. Of course, a mural that covers an entire wall will probably be far more expensive than hiring a professional to simply paint the wall one color. It is probably a good idea to ask the individual artists if they have done work on this scale before to make sure that you end up with a work that is not only one of a kind, but is relatively close to the picture or design you initially decide upon.

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