Balloons Decorations Pictures

When choosing a theme, think about how long you would like the mural to be in the child's room. Some families have one nursery that they use for all their children, but some will use the same room and have to re-paint as the child gets older. If that is the case, it is important to choose a theme that can grow with your child.

WallMonkeys

Some great places to find creative ideas are to: look in children's books at the library, search the internet, buy a book on decorating children's rooms, magazines, or you can seek help from a professional.

If your child is older and you are considering a mural for them, a great way to choose a theme is to ask them directly what they would like to have painted on their walls. Show them pictures and try to bring out their interests and/or hobbies.

For instance, if a young girl is into horses, you could have a wonderful mural painted of a western countryside with wild horses running into the sunset. If a boy loves tractors (like my son) a mural of a construction site would be great, with men in yellow hard hats, and tractors lifting dirt into giant dump trucks. A sports fan can have a mural painted of their favorite stadium or baseball field. Team colors and logos are also a simple way to add detail above a child's bed.

If a pre-teen girl loves art and bright colors, you can have all different colored geometric shapes painted on one wall or large colorful flowers painted randomly around the room. A few more creative ideas are: a space mural with glow in the dark planets and stars, a jungle with life size animals like a giraffe, elephant, zebra, and maybe a few monkeys, a princess room with a big castle, fluffy clouds, and tiny glitter fairies, a nursery mural with soft colored trees, butterflies, and a spring flower garden, and maybe even an ancient land of dinosaurs done in warm and earthy color tones. Again, the possibilities are just endless.

In the end, be sure that you do the proper planning. If you are attempting to do it on your own, draw out your design and practice on a sample board with your paints. If you would rather have help with ideas and the actual painting of the mural, it is best to hire someone who can bring it all together for you - a professional mural artist.

A mural is really worth the investment when it comes to your child's creativity and imagination. It opens a wonderful world of inspiration when a child can have a room designed just for them.

Dawn Papandrea-Khan is an artist and muralist for Surfaces with Paint out of Westchester County, NY. Feel free to contact the artist through her website at http://www.surfaceswithpaint.com She would be happy to answer any questions that you might have.