A significant part of the enjoyment we get from decorating our homes is the perceived vision of how the rooms are going to look and feel when we have completed the adventure.
We imagine the living room that is bland and boring with an awkward corner bulkhead will become a welcoming oasis, and set about to transform the walls with soothing colour, and add gentle folds of drapery to camouflage the uneven ceiling.
We are generally profoundly affected by our environment, in good and bad ways. So let’s make the most of what we have and set up our personal living quarters to suit our better nature.
Every picture tells a story. Images pull us in and have the power to transport us while we are simply standing or sitting in place. When that image is huge, and lifelike, the effect is marvelous.
A wall mural can do just that, take us to a waterfall or on a walk in the forest, meander through an ancient laneway or behold a city landscape all lit up at midnight.
I came upon Muralunique at an interior design show. The wall in their booth was an old brick wall with peeling white paint, and like so many others at the show, I had to touch the surface to prove it was only paper.
Knowing what a wall mural can do, my imagination took off as I thought up all the different scenarios this decorative feature could present.
Muralunique.com offers pre-pasted wallpaper murals that are as easy to hang as regular wallpaper. The panels are numbered and have registration marks to ensure your pattern is matching up.
You can choose from their wide selection or send in your own picture or photo for them to make into a mural. If you are sending your own photo, it must be very high resolution so that the blown-up image remains clear and not blurry.
The site has video instructions on how to hang the murals, including a comprehensive preparation plan for the wall, so that you will be able to remove the mural and re-hang it at a future date. Tip: prime with BIN (shellac sealer) or an oil-based primer.
Trompe l’oeil is the art of painting or designing an object so that it appears to be three-dimensional. It tricks the eye. This time-honoured decorative device can be used to make a small room appear larger and any room feel grand.
The mural seen here, named Pergola, produces the effect of a beautiful garden space that opens up behind the living-room couch. The columns add grandeur, and the greenery and trailing leaves vibrate with summer freshness.
Textured walls create visual interest. Accent walls clad in wood, stone or concrete, or covered in fabric, bring their own unique character to a space. Muralunique’s Old Concrete Wall mural offers its own contemporary edge to a bedroom loft. Nothing fancy here, but the air is filled with threads of age and enduring spaces.
Whatever your interest, there is a mural that will bring it to life. Choose from sports, themes for children and teens, abstract art, black and white images, textures and more. It’s big, bold and compelling — lots of fun with little effort required.
Debbie Travis’s House to Home column is produced by Debbie Travis and Barbara Dingle. Please email your questions to house2home@debbietravis.com. You can follow Debbie on Twitter at twitter.com/debbie_travis, and visit Debbie’s website, debbietravis.com.