Fairytale endings

It’s the stuff of fairytales and storybooks – the ones where the little girl lies down in a meadow of flowers and falls asleep and dreams.

This whimsical design with plants growing out of the floor and up the wall is also reminiscent of a colouring-in book. It looks like a giant has started colouring between the lines, or rather painting between the lines, using Resene Tangaroa and Resene FX Gold Dust, then been called away for tea or wandered off on new adventures.

It may be a fantastical and child-like design but this doesn’t have to be used in a child’s room. In fact, the use of serious blues – Resene Half Escape on the wall, with Resene Cello on the mural outline and Resene Tangaroa for filling in – gives the room a more grown-up look.

In a bedroom, a mural such as this is a great replacement for both a bedhead and any artworks you might have hung. It’s a two-in-one deal.

The floor has been painted in dark Resene Tangaroa which adds a mysterious, sink-into-the-depths feel – just as if you were sinking into sleep.

The restricted colour palette keeps the room from looking too chaotic – the mural design is already rather busy so if you used multiple paint colours, it may start to look a bit hectic. And might keep you awake at night.

For a child’s room, you could use a softer palette of greens such as Resene Soft Apple, Resene Highland and Resene Paddock with accents of yellow such as Resene Golden Glow or peachy orange Resene Whiskey Sour. Or use pale blues, or pinky-mauves such as Resene Ebb, Resene Soothe and Resene Paper Doll with gold accents.

The mural colours can then be used to inspire other accessories in the room such as the bedding, rug and bedside table. You can also paint pieces of furniture like drawers, bedside tables and end-of-bed benches using a hardwearing paint such as waterborne Resene Enamacryl gloss waterborne enamel. Just about anything can be painted, so long as you put in the proper prep work, so this allows you to concentrate on picking items that you love the shape of instead of having to worry about whether it’s the correct colour.

A daring dash of gold has been added to this room in the form of Resene Gold Dust metallic paint. This type of paint can be used on many surfaces, from walls to smaller objects and is a fun way to bring a bit of sparkle to a room or paint project. It’s best painted on top of a matching basecoat of normal paint. There are many other metallic and special effect paints in the Resene colour collection – pick up a free colour chart at your local Resene ColorShop or check view the chart online.

Painting a mural

Resene testpots are the perfect tool for painting wall murals as they are affordable and easy to use without paint wastage.

Look online for designs that you like or for artistic inspiration.

There are a number of ways to transfer your design from paper to the wall. Try one of these popular options:

• Freehand – Simply paint directly onto the wall following the design guidelines, or draw the outlines on first using a soft pencil or chalk. Going freehand is ideal when the mural is designed to show individual expression, not so good when there is a firm design in mind.

• Grid system – The original design is divided into a grid. The wall is also divided into a grid. The original design is then marked onto the wall following the grid so that what appears in one grid square on the paper appears in the same grid square on the wall.

• Projector – Photocopy your design onto a transparency and then use a slide projector or angled desk lamp to project it onto the wall or use a digital copy and a data projector. Outline the edges of the design in soft pencil or chalk. The projector option is best used in the evening so that the design can be easily seen on the wall.

If you decide to go for a more geo inspired design, then masking tape is likely to be your new best friend. Use it to mark out the different areas you want to paint.

The best thing about painted murals is if you don’t like part of it, you can paint over that bit and start again.

Project by Megan Harrison-Turner. Photography by Bryce Carleton. July 2022