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 turning one or more walls of their houses into works of art in themselves. 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, countertops, and 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
Trompe L'oeil is literally French for "fool the eye" and refers to the technique of painting something to look realistic, such as a window painted onto a solid wall or a playing card painted onto a table. Therefore, true Trompe L'oeil is life-sized and includes shadows and highlights to make the object look 3-D as opposed to flat. Preparation of the area or object to be painted is very important; some effects cannot be achieved on a textured wall, for example.

Finding Someone to Create a Mural
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.

Much like commissioning a portrait or landscape painting, 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 an online service such as 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.