How to Paint Nursery Murals

Step One: Choosing Your Basic Nursery Mural Design

There are several different types of baby mural to choose from. Here are a few examples, from the simplest to the most complex:

Step Two: Deciding Where to Paint Your Nursery Mural

The placement of your painting needs to fit harmoniously with the other elements of your nursery design but here are a few things to bear in mind:

• Murals are best painted on the upper portion of the wall so that they are not obscured by furniture later on. One way to achieve this is to use a nursery border or chair rail to separate the top and bottom sections. Paint the bottom section with a solid color and the top section with your mural.
• You want your hard work to be noticed, so make sure that your baby room mural is on a wall that is easily seen as you enter the nursery.
• Baby room murals make beautiful focus points above the baby crib.
• If you are planning a large mural make sure that the nursery wall you plan to use is big enough.
• If you are planning a small mural either paint it on a smaller wall or complement it with other nursery wall decor. A small mural looks lost on its own on a large nursery wall.

Step Three: Find a Picture to Base Your Baby Room Mural On

This is the hardest part. You can use any picture you find from a magazine, the internet, a coloring book - anything. You can even trace elements from your baby's crib bedding set or comforter.

Step Four: Trace Your Picture onto an Overhead Projector Acetate Sheet

Tip: Use a thin nibbed black pen so that the lines are clear. Make sure you get the basic shape and then decide how much you want to add - include as little or as much detail as you like - you don't have to include everything.

Step Five: Project Your Picture onto the Nursery Wall and Paint

1. Using an overhead projector, project your image onto the nursery wall, adjusting the size until it fits the space you have earmarked for the baby room mural. Tip: If it is not dark enough in the room to use the projector you can cover the windows with foil and painter's tape.

2. Sketch the image onto the nursery wall using charcoal. (Charcoal is easy to see and is easy to remove, therefore it is recommended over pencil.)

3. Switch off the projector but don't move it until your mural design is complete - otherwise it will be difficult to realign your picture perfectly if you need to add more detail or if you accidentally paint over a line.

4. Fill in your outline using paint in your chosen colors. Tip: If you are using many different colors, small pots of acrylic paint from the craft shop work well.

5. When your nursery mural is filled in and dry, decide whether or not you wish to outline the shapes - this is a matter of personal preference. Outlines can be drawn using an acrylic paint pen in black or a darker shade of the color used for the fill-in.

6. Finally, wipe away any charcoal marks with a damp cloth.