4 Ways to get the Look of Hand Painted Wallpaper
December 9, 2010 in Asian (Chinoiserie), Beige, Floral, Glamorous, Gray, Luxurious, TIPS & TRICKS!, Wallpaper / Tiles / Murals
The pattern on wallpaper is usually repeated throughout. This is what separates printed wallpaper from the hand painted variety. Only drawback? The hand painted variety is obviously super expensive. Like $500 per square meter expensive. Since I love the look of hand pained wall papers, and chances are that you do too, I thought I’d round up a few ways to achieve this look without breaking the bank. But first, let’s take a look at the real thing:
Hand painted wallpaper makes it possible to achieve beautiful non-repeated scenery which isn’t possible with standard wallpaper. Beautiful, isn’t it?
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Here’s four ideas on how to achieve the hand painted wallpaper look:
1. Printed Murals:
There are actually printed mural wallpapers available, like this one by York Wallcoverings. A good alternative for a feature wall.
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2. Hire a painter.
WINDSOR SMITH / SCOTT WATERMAN
This wall is painted by LA based artist Scott Waterman.
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Allison Cosmos is a professional mural painter. At $75 an hour this isn’t an option for everyone though. This girl is insanely talented, click the link to see more of her work!
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3. Paint a mural yourself!
If you are a good painter, you can free hand a mural yourself. If you don’t consider yourself a good painter, pick a beautiful scene and trace around it on a transparent sheet. Use an overhead projector or mount the sheet in front of a bright lamp. Move the projector further away from the wall you are working on to make the scene larger. Then trace around the shadows on your wall, and fill in with paint. To achieve more depth, paint on wallpaper!
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4. Invest in stencils.
The Stencile Library has a large collection of multi-layered stencils. This requires little artistic abilities, and the result is simply stunning! Here is an example of the result you can get with these stencils. This particular wall is created using this stencil.
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Here’s a closeup of the stenciled wallpaper. To top it all of, Helen, the proud owner of this bedroom wall, placed crystals in the birds eyes and on the flowers. I LOVE this!
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Here you can see that this mural consists of 4 panels. Many of their stencils constitute three or four layers (sheets) for each stencil design, which means you can use many different colors on one stencil, and achieve a nice depth. The girls at the Stencil Library shows lots of examples on their blog ;)
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Have a great day everyone!
Adrianna said on December 9, 2010
This brought a tear to my eye. I have long been in love with this look on walls. This is handsdown the 2nd bestest post ever….after the post you did a while back of the turquoise and grey room (which I based my entire bedroom off of). The 3rd best post was the one you did around Christmas time last year. It was purple and blue tones, and also had a hand painted wall with little hummingbirds. Now I am off to find a wall to try my hand at! Still the best blog EVER!
Linda @ theLENNOXX said on December 9, 2010
Hi Adrianna, I’ve missed you!! I’m so happy to know you still enjoy my blog, I miss yours though. You probably have enough furniture to decorate a small castle by now ;)
Lindsay @ yams said on December 9, 2010
I am a HUGE supporter of using rhinestone sparklies in any capacity but my heart skipped a happy beat when I saw it on the wall! I want!
Nancy@marcusdesign said on December 10, 2010
So lovely! These 4 ideas are awesome, I think I would love to try these looks one day. I would LOVE to try my hand at painting a mural, especially in a kids room like the one above!
Nancy xo
Åse said on December 12, 2010
It´s amazing, you know I love this!
Helen Morris said on February 5, 2011
Thank you so much for including us (The Stencil Library) in your very lovely post. All those examples of hand painted Chinoiserie are stunning.
Conspicuous Style Blog said on May 3, 2011
Great ideas…wish I was talented to do the stencil wall….
Stacy
Linda Leyble said on May 22, 2012
Hi Linda…
Great post that I missed (of course, now I follow you because of this!) I did a hand painted chinoiserie mural in my living room – with the help of an artist who used to work for me. I did it just in the corner, where I placed my sofa on a diagonal…and it made the whole room. I have it on my blog.
I love all of your suggestions. Great post. I’ve met Helen Morris!! She is such a wonderful person. I took a class from her several years ago. She is so inspiring!
Linda
Interiorapartment said on July 24, 2012
Fantastic! i will be doing this when we buy our house!