Wall Graphics - 3 DIY Options

I love Facebook.  It has allowed me to reconnect with fabulous people who I've met throughout the years.   One of those people is an old friend of mine from high school who just moved into a new house with his family. He sent me a quick message yesterday asking if I had any ideas/tips for painting on a kids wall.

Here are the three easiest ways that I know of:

1) Using a projector to create a mural

You can use one of the old-school projectors that your teachers used to use.  Or if you have a projector at work, you can hook it up to your laptop at home and project straight onto the wall that way too (this also skips the 'creating a transparency' step).

This is the least expensive method (provided you don't go out and buy a projector!) and the primary benefit is that you have complete control over the creative because you can use any image that you like.  The drawback is that it can take a lot of time if your mural/images are detailed and if you aren't comfortable painting it may seem a little daunting.

2) Using stencils

There are a variety of stencils you can buy online, at home improvement stores, craft or home decorating stores.  The trick is making sure you aren't using a ton of paint because otherwise it seeps under the edges of the stencil and looks really sloppy. 

This is a great option if you're looking for a very specific pattern or a repetitive pattern that you want to customize (colour/placement).  Painting with stencils can be time consuming, require a fair bit of patience and may need you to be very detail-oriented.

3) Using vinyl wall decals

Vinyl wall decals are images that have been pre-cut into vinyl and are placed (by you) on a wall.  There are a ton of options out there and some companies will customize decals to suit your needs.  The cost varies by manufacturer, size and originality of the design.

I personally used a vinyl wall decal in my daughter's room when we moved into our house.  What I like best about them is they're the fastest way to create a graphic image and you know exactly what you're going to get.   It took me a long time to find exactly the right one, but I eventually found it on Ebay and absolutely LOVE how it looks.  Plus, it's easy to remove to update the room later on.

Avery's crib & tree decal

I put the decal up by myself and wished half way through I'd waited for DH to get home to help.  I also should have spent a little more time reading the instructions before I got started (there was about 30 minutes of profanity as I unstuck pieces that got stuck to each other instead of the wall because I'd been in a  rush to get it done - luckily it ended up working still!)

- Jacs