"With not too much difficulty or cost, you can create a bedroom fit for a princess by making this simple but effective mural. Not only will this look beautiful, but this project will also give your child the pleasure of helping to make it."

With not too much difficulty or cost, you can create a simple but effective mural with a difference that will not only look beautiful but also give your child the pleasure of helping to make it. Above her bed would be an ideal position for this mural design.

You will need:

• Artists’ acrylic paint in the colours of your choice. (choose colours to tie in with the rest of the room)
• Large sheet of paper approximately 1.5’ wide (you could use a sheet of newspaper if you can’t find paper big enough)
• Masking tape to tape the design to the wall.
• An overhead projector (optional)
• Overhead projector transparent film and pen (optional)
• Strong contact adhesive
• Pretty buttons, stars, beads, sequins, stick on jewels or any jewel-like bits that can be found in craft shops.
• Soft graphite, charcoal or coloured chalk
• A helpful little girl

Lets Get Started

Draw a simple crown and stars shape like the one shown here. You can find crown shapes to copy in children’s storybooks that you may already have or from your local library.

The crown shape is quite a simple shape, so you may be able to simply copy it onto some large paper and transfer it onto the wall without the use of an overhead projector. If not, borrow or hire a projector and draw the design onto overhead projector film and project your design onto the wall where you can trace the outline to the size desired.

I suggest making the width of the crown approximately 1.5’ wide.

To make the crown appear to be floating on the wall, create a shadow by tracing the picture onto the wall then move it down and to one side and trace it again to form your drop shadow.

Keep your lines a bit wobbly, this is part of the charm of the design.

Paint the drop shadow in a pale grey, and then paint the crown and stars in your chosen colours. The simpler the better. Allow the paint to dry thoroughly.

Next comes the fun bit. Collect buttons, woolly balls, metallic stars, sequins, stick on jewels and glittery bits and pieces that you can find in craft shops and craft suppliers.

Now with the help of your child, glue these treasures to the painted crown to give it that extra sparkle. A bit of glitter wouldn't go amiss either! Have fun.

Floating stars

Why not create more floating stars around the room?

Create an outline of your star shapes as illustrated here. Make sure you keep your drop shadow positions consistent for best effect.

Paint the shadow a pale grey and then fill in the stars with colours to match the crown. Add some jewels if you wish.

It's a great effect... the stars look like they are floating and it's so simple.

TIPS

To create a realistic drop shadow colour, put some of your background wall colour in a small container, mix in a little drop of black acrylic paint until the colour is slightly darker than the background wall colour. Don’t make it too dark. Look at the real shadows in the room as a rough guide.

To create your own transfer paper, draw your design onto a large sheet of paper, rub the back of the paper with a coloured chalk, charcoal or soft graphite pencil. When you draw over the design with a ball point pen onto the wall, the design will be transferred.

If you use a graphite pencil to draw the design on the wall, do it very lightly as it can show through the paint and be impossible to remove. It is better to draw lightly with a coloured crayon in a colour similar to the final paint colour.

Use tester pots of acrylic wall paint available form DIY and paint stores. They come in small quantities and are inexpensive.

Fiona Paterson - Fiona Paterson is a professional mural painter and the creator of www.murals-for-kids-rooms.com, a guide to murals and wall art for children’s rooms. This web site includes designs and ideas and helpful guidance on how to paint your own child’s mural. Fiona has been painting murals for 8 years before which she worked for 12 years as a designer and illustrator in the graphic design and printing industry while painting murals as a hobby.   Website: Murals for Kids Rooms To review the Reprint Rights for this article, please go to the authors page by clicking the button below.