A Must Try: Home Murals
Jun 5th, 2008 | By admin | Category: One Crazy MotherHaving a custom painting in a child’s bedroom is just one of the many ways parents add a little something special to plain white walls. Hiring a painter can get pricey. Elephants on the Wall is southern California company that ships do-it-yourself home mural kits all over the U.S.
Their website says that they make painting a themed mural as easy as “1-2-3″ (as do their customers )but so do people who change their own oil and we all know they’re crazy.
For our June series of “Buy This,” Emily, mom of one and One Crazy Mother Advisor agreed to try out Elephants on the Wall and give us a first hand account.
A longtime fan of scoundrels of the sea picked the Pirate Pete’s Treasure Map, not an easy theme to master.
Let’s follow her journey….no, seriously, come along now!
Emily will be posting about her Elephant’s on the Wall progress right here.
CONTEST!
We love our Crazy Mothers and asked Elephants on the Wall to give one mom a mural of her choice! All you have to do is count the number of times Emily writes “pirate” in her diary- from the first post to when the mural is complete or send us a link to your favorite Elephants on the Wall mural. Email your answer to onecrazymother@gmail.com. Good luck and thank you Elephants on the Wall!
Step One: Supplies
Hi, I’m Emily!
Ah – behold the blank wall. What was once simply boring is now a canvas bursting with possibility. How did this lucky wall become the chosen one? Well – it is the only wall large enough to accommodate the 8’x6’ mural. Selecting the wall is only the beginning of this painting adventure. If you have smaller walls, there are smaller murals and you can get them custom sized.
Until next time…
Step Two: The Set Up
Hi Everyone! Time to get this show on the road. The template needs to go up on the wall. I’m nervous, but excited. My little pirate is going to love this!
The task of centering and hanging the template is no piece of cake, but definitely doable– I am not discouraged! “This is a DIY project!” is my motivating mantra. The hanging goes a lot faster with more than one person so make it a party! Be sure to account for things like electrical outlets when you position the template. Keep in mind that painter’s tape does not hold the carbon paper to the template; have some clear tape on hand. You can find the tape for a about a buck in most stores…or in your junk drawer.
I did it!! Isn’t it neat looking already?
With the template in place, let the tracing commence. This pirate mural is very detailed and, since my wall is textured, it takes about 1 hour to trace each of the four panels. In the photo below, I’m going slowly over the bumps in order to get a picture that somewhat resembles the template, rather than a drawing by a 3-year-old. That wouldn’t be cute.
Above: me concentrating 
Notes from Patti, Elephants on the Wall creator,
Pattern Help
When you think you’re done tracing the pattern - do NOT remove the pattern - quite yet. Start with one panel at a time, starting at the bottom of the first panel, lift the panel up about two feet, check to see if you missed any areas. Then put the panel back down, lift it up, put it back down, lift it up, put it back down. Repeat this several times keeping an eye on your the wall as you do it. (It’s kind of like a flip book). By doing this, if you missed a line or two they will become obvious and you can trace them while the panel still in position. Then lift up that same panel so you can see the bottom four feet of her wall. And repeat the flip book thing. I can pretty much guarantee that if you take the pattern off the wall, and realize that you missed some lines you will never get the pattern back into the same position.
Step Three: Painting
As my son Jackson is only 11 months old, I mostly work on the project during naptime and after bedtime. I created a temporary, alternative sleeping area for this reason. When I do work on it during his playtime – he tries to help.
The instructions clearly recommend not tracing the numbers onto the wall, as the paint may not cover them. So… how are you to know where to paint what color? I’ll tell you! Most of it is obvious, but I saved the large template for reference and also made my own key on the small picture that included the directions.
The first thing I painted was the background, which in this case is the ocean. To make sure I could see the carbon tracing I left an inch or so around each picture blank so as not to accidentally paint blue where blue was not wanted.
It’s really coming together now!
Notes from Patti, Elephants on the Wall creator:
Step Four: More Painting!
As painting continued, I tried to paint everything of one color at once. This made the best use of paint and saved time washing brushes. It takes 3 to 5 coats to get the colors looking vividly opaque; yes, this task teeters between relaxing and monotonous. The picture is so charming and the characters so endearing, however, they beckoned me to continue. When selecting a template, be mindful that you will have to commit to it, so choose one that you are excited about! Can’t wait to see my pirates come to life!
I decided to put “Cap’n Jackson” as my mural’s title instead of the one it came with to add a personal touch. What do you think?
Missy, another pirate fan just sent me an email about her Elephants on the Wall experience! See her finished mural here: http://onecrazymother.com/2008/06/missys-pirate-mural/
Step Five: Details and Fun
I’m almost there! As you can see I’ve started painting pirates and getting into more detail.
Here is the progress from Jackson’s perspective… he approves.
Things are really starting to come together. I “shang-hi’d” my mom into helping and she filled in quite a bit of the blue around the various objects. If I had planned better, I would have painted all the large portions of color first, such as the ocean, sand & grass. It is easier to paint a small object over a large portion of color than to fill in around a detail with the background color. Oh well - it’s working out and looks great!
Step Six: Filling in Blue!
After some time off due to a pre-planned family vacation, I’m determined to finish up this mural. My first task: fill in all the blue! So here it is…. a map complete with filled in ocean. At the time of the picture, there are strange spots due to the stages of drying. Hooray for a big accomplishment. I would recommend that others who tackle this mural follow the EOTW suggestion and paint all the blue first.
All I have to do now is fill in various places I hadn’t painted yet, such as the grass on this island, paint the lettering and the border.
Look at that - instant foliage! I wish that putting in real grass was that easy.
Step Seven: More Details and Friends!
Hooray for friends. Today my friend Stefanie helped me work on the mural. Thanks to her encouragement and superior painting skills, I’m truly almost done now.
Fun!
Adding the lettering helped bring a finished look. Here is a close up of one of my favorite features - the alligators peeking out of the water!
The whole thing is looking great. All that is left to paint are a few details and the border of the map. I’m still deciding what color I want to paint it.
Step Eight: I’m Done!
The border is done. Here are the final mural photos in all its piratey glory!!
My additional piratey decor.
Here it is, the complete picture! The border looks a little more orange in the photo than it actually is. It’s more golden and less mac-n-cheese in person. I’m so excited to show Jackson when he wakes up! I truly recommend EOTW products for anyone who wants to put a little excitement into their kid’s rooms.
Want to win an Elephants on the Wall mural of your own? Email onecrazymother@gmail.com with either the number of times Emily says “pirate” in her posts, or go to www.elephantsonthewall.com and send us a link to your favorite mural!
Great job Emily!! The mural looks fantastic!
I am about 3/4 done with a mural from EOTW. It is the one of the kids in the treehouse. Taping the print up and tracing it went much smoother than I thought and especially than my husband thought as he instructed me “I wouldn’t touch this project with a ten foot pole!” I am now finishing the painting. It took longer than expected but I am enjoying it more than I expected too. And so far, it looks just like it did on the EOTW’s website - fantastic. I am very proud of myself and thankful to have Elephants On The Wall’s help to make this happen. Good luck.
Hi Kim! Thanks for reaching out! Wow, the Treehouse mural is one of my favorites. Do you have any photos of the process you’d like to share? Email them to onecrazymother@gmail.com and we’ll post. Elephants on the Wall is such a neat company-that’s why we’re telling the world. You don’t have to hire a painter to get a great wall mural anymore
Hi there. I too did the pirate mural from EOTW. I loveeeee the way it turned out! We have the orange peel textured walls so it was just a slight challenge but, it came out great. I too changed a few of the colors around. I was able to skip painting the water portion of the map because my son’s walls were already oceany blue. I can’t wait to see how yours comes out!
I just finished doing the Mermaid murals for my two year old twin girls’ room. It is absolutely beautiful! I couldn’t be happier about the results. The girls’ just love their new room. The kit had very easy instructions and was well worth the time that I put into it. I would recommend elephantsonthewall.com murals to any parent looking to brighten up their kids’ room!
Megan, how awesome that you did the same mural! Any tips or tricks you’d like to share? It’s neat that your walls were already blue!
Spohn, send an email with a picture of the mermaids, we’ll post it! onecrazymother@gmail.com. Thanks for posting!
We painted Jungle Story Mural from EOTW in our Baby’s nursery room. It turned out to be GREAT!. All our friends liked it and were curious to know how we did it. I’m really impressed with how the mural turned out. As we started painting when I was in my third trimester, I didn’t get much to paint. Most of the work was done by my dear husband. It was fun watching him paint. THe painting was complete in 3 weeks, with some help from my cousins and father. Our baby is due in a week, we can’t wait to see our kid play in his nursery. I would highly recommend EOTW to any parent who wants to decorate baby/kid’s room.
I did the mermaids for my oldest daughter and the Enchanted Tree house (with the fairies - I forget the whole name) and they turned out great. I am so happy with the ease of the EOTW templates. I have textured walls and used probably twice as much paint as the kit said to use, but it is also a brand new house that and rooms only had two coats of base paint on them; plus the texture is really hard too fill, but I went into the projects knowing I’d need more paint. One thing I really liked about the EOTW projects was that I was able to easily change things that fit our needs, such as paint color. I added a lot of glitter to both murals to give them that girly pop. I recommend EOTW to everyone that looks at my girls’ rooms with awe and envy.
I just finished two of the Beach Scene murals from Elephants on the Wall in my daughter’s bedroom. They turned out fantastic! It took me about a week to finish, working several hours a day. I changed most of the colors to match my daughter’s bedspread, and painted the “background” first, from floor to ceiling, before tracing and painting the mural. What I was most surprised at was how little paint it took. I ended up returning more than half of the paint I bought because I didn’t need it! I would definately recommend EOTW to anyone wanting a unique, affordable, and relatively easy way to make a kids room special!
I did the huge underwater antics mural on two walls and I found that before I even hung the mural on the wall I first painted the background color on the walls. I would also recommend using a red crayola pencil to trace the lines that way you can very easily see which lines still needed to be traced. If you use a regular pencil to trace, it’s harder to see against the black lines.
Also, keep a pencil sharpener handy, as you will use it often.
I had so much fun, it was like coloring in a giant coloring book.
I just finished painting the Moose on the Loose mural from Elephants on the Wall last weekend. I just love it!! A few years back I did the Underwater Antics mural for my son’s room, and it came out just great. I’m so glad you are having a great time with these murals. They are so much fun!!
I painted the Jungle Story Mural in my son’s nursery before he was born. I started in my first trimester and was finished a couple months before he was born. It was great to do during my nesting stage. He is now 7 months old and loves to look at all the animals and the colors. I would recommend EOTW to anyone who would like to customize thier childs room. I am a designer and it is the easiest do it yourself mural I have found! I have pictures of my mural on my web site: http://designerlady.googlepages.com
I’m loving these comments! Thanks for participating!
I just finished this same mural in my son’s room(pirate map) but I made some changes to fit our space better. Since I ordered a huge bunk bed and a desk with hutch(Rooms to Go Kids-Pirates of the Caribbean collection and bedding) that coverd much of the walls, I made the entire room the map and cut the mural into pieces. This offered many chances to customize the mural by making several islands or changing thier size and shapes. I too changed colors to match the bedding and since my little guy met Captain Jack Sparrow at Disney World a few weeks ago, I had to add him and Will Turner on the Black Pearl( with my son as the captain at the wheel!). I added a couple other characters he wanted just for fun, like Nemo and friends being chase by the sharks and a few jumping Shamus. I even put the Treasure Island in his closet so you have to open the door to find the treasure.
These templates are very versitile and once you get the hang of it…you can do anything with them. I was able to create an extremely personalized room that makes every day a magical one for my three yr old. We just love it!
Hi there. I too have had a great experience in painting an EOTW mural. In April of this year, I helped paint the
Teddy’s Wooded Wonderland for an exhibit for Toys “R” Us at the Baby Celebration LA Expo. The directions were simple and easy. We didn’t have any trouble putting up the pattern - just take each panel, turn it over face down, place the carbon paper face up and tape only at the top, then repeat with each panel. When you’re finished, just arrange the panels in order, adjust as necessary and tape at the top until all panels are straight, then tape the sides and bottoms…et voila, you are ready to trace!
We did have to use two coats of paint per area, but that was definitely enough to cover the back wall. I’ll send you some pictures of our finished product. There were mutiple people helping over a period of two days to get ready for the exhibit, so it didn’t take us that long.
I would definitely recommend any of the EOTW murals…it really added the fun and fantasy we needed for our
product exhibit!!!
Emily,
I have had fun keeping an eye on your progress - you are doing a terrific job! Keep up the good work. I can’t wait until you are finished. PS. I love Jackson’s “perspective”. If you have any questions, just ask!
Patti
OK - This is Kim (first post) and I just wanted to say how impressed I am that you are so far along! I work on the mural just here and there and have about 1/4 left to do. I am also the mom of 4 and expecting #5 in four weeks so we are just taking it slow which is working out fine too. Congrats on such a fantastic job! Kim
I did the My Secret Garden Mural and Birdbath in my daughter’s room. I loved doing it and it was so easy. I was nervous when I started, but it was kind of just like a big coloring book page on a wall. The treasure map looks great!