How to make your own paint by numbers mural

• Painters masking tape
• Measuring tape
• Pencil
• Resene testpot in your choice of colours, for the sky Fleur used Resene Dawn Pink, Resene Quarter Milk White and Resene Quarter Delta, for the land Fleur used Resene Lemon Ginger, Resene Grass Hopper, Resene Planter, Resene Saratoga, Resene Waiouru and Resene Karma, for the reflections, Fleur used Resene West Coast and Resene Go Ben, for the water, Fleur used Resene Rhino, Resene Seachange, Resene Bali Hai, Resene Frozen and Resene Link Water
• Paintbrush
• Medium sized artist paintbrush

Instructions

Step 1:  It’s a good idea to draw your design on paper first and work out which colours you want to use (Photo 1).

Step 2:  Start by taping your wall to protect the surrounding walls, ceiling and skirting board (Photo 2).

Step 3:  Use a pencil to draw your design on to the wall (Photo 3).  

Top tip: If you make a mistake drawing on your wall, a multipurpose household cleaner usually does a better job of removing the pencil than a pencil rubber/eraser.

Step 4:  Start by painting at the top and work your way down the wall, painting every second section of Resene colour.  This gives the paint time to dry and it means that you don’t risk the adjacent paint colour mixing with the wet edge of the last paint colour.  Paint around the edge of each section with a medium sized artist paintbrush and then fill in the remainder of the area with a bigger paintbrush.  Apply two layers of paint for each section to get a good coverage and intensity of colour. (Photo 4). Repeat the process by painting the remaining sections of colour. (Finished project).

Top tip: For a subtler finish, use a range of tone on tone hues.  See the Resene Multifinish collection palettes – each is arranged by colour to make it easier for you to find similar colours that will work well together.

Original wall colour – Resene Eighth Canterbury Clay | Ceiling – Resene Half Rice Cake | Skirting – Resene Half Rice Cake | Door – Resene Black

Styling and images by Fleur Thorpe. July 2020.