Easy Geometric Wall Mural
Living room wall makeover! I painted this easy mural and added cactus accents to brighten it up.
In the dead of Minnesota winter, January 2020, it came as no surprise that I was itching to do a colorful creative project in our home. Enter, blah and boring living room wall! I had seen a few Pinterest posts with unique wall murals and exciting color schemes, and I was really feeling drawn to pinks and greens. Think mauve, rose, sage, deep emeralds and turquoises.
Before - drab and gray! This room was in desperate need of some color and creativity.
I knew I wanted to focus on the wall with the TV for my mural, as I was building out a gallery wall on the wall with the couch (behind the camera). After some Pinterest research, several trips to Home Depot to compare paint cards and samples, and some rough design sketching, I decided on a design and color scheme! See the linked Pinterest posts below that inspired my decisions:
And here are my ROUGH design sketches. Lol. I’m a very visual person, so it really helps me to just sit in the room I’m designing with my phone (AKA camera & internet) and a sketchbook so I can envision colors, shapes, textures and how everything will come together. I’ll often use free editing apps to create digital mood boards with paint swatches, existing photos of my room and furniture, any decor or furniture that I want to buy, etc. But, all I needed for this project was the two sketches!
On to execution! I am a MESSY painter (always have been, always will be, I’ve accepted it), so taping the walls was a non-negotiable. Because the point of this project was to create a geometric mural with sharp lines, I opted to upgrade my painters tape to ScotchBlue Ultra Sharp Lines Painters Tape. I would highly recommend using high-quality painting tape like this to ensure that you don’t have any paint bleed or uneven lines.
You can see I taped the trim, ceiling, and outlets first. Then, I taped the lines I needed to create the geometric design. Because I didn’t have any exact angle or shape that I needed the design to be, I just loosely followed my sketch and placed three angled pieces of tape in my desired design. My husband helped to keep the tape taut as I placed it on the wall, and we firmly traced each piece of tape with our fingers on the wall to ensure there were no bubbles or gaps.
Obviously I wanted the paint to look fresh and even, so I first did a coat of the existing light gray wall color on the upper section of the walls. You can see the paint is still wet in the above photos. Next, I painted the bottom triangle in three coats of the rose pink on the large and small wall. Then, I painted the upper left triangle in three coats of the sage turquoise color. I waited for the paint to dry enough (~3 hours) and pulled the tape off the pink paint on the small wall. This revealed a nice clean line, so I removed the rest of the tape from my design.
IMPORTANT step to remember: the tape is ~1 inch wide, so it creates a gap between your paint colors. Depending on your design/if you are a perfectionist, you may want to reposition your tape after you’ve painted a section and paint where the gap is. You can see in the photo below on the left, the sections that were taped against the gray, I’ve labeled as ‘good’. Since the paint underneath the tape was gray and the wall is gray, I didn’t need to reposition my tape and paint. BUT, the section between the green and the pink left a 1 inch line of gray, which as indicated in the photo, needed to be fixed. So, as you can see in the photo below on the right, I placed a fresh piece of tape, lining the top edge of the tape with the top edge of the pink triangle. I also placed a small piece of tape on the outer right edge of the green triangle, so I could paint a perfect corner. I painted the indicated area with three coats of green, let the paint dry, and removed the tape.
And… Wa la! Painted mural complete and TV back in place. But, this look felt weird to me. It reminded me a bit of an old tube of toothpaste. So, I went back to my Pinterest inspo and decided to go all-in on a desert theme.
My first win was finding this large (fake) cactus at Target. Sadly, this cactus is no longer sold at Target, but I do like this alternative from Amazon. Then, I found these super cute cactus photos, also at Target, that coordinated perfectly with my colors and theme.
I placed the cactus in the corner, and hung the cactus photos with command strips and a level. Final product below, including my gallery wall and color-coordinating blankets and pillows! I am super happy with the result. It was a super budget-friendly and attainable project, that allowed me to incorporate almost all of my existing art and decor. All in, I spent less than $200 for a completely new living room. And I created a desert oasis in the middle of the frozen MN tundra :)
How To: Easy Geometric Mural in 5 Steps
Supplies:
2-3 paint colors of your choice. I purchased a quarter (1/4) gallon each of the pink and green. I used the existing light gray paint that my living room was already painted in as my third color
ScotchBlue Ultra Sharp Lines Painters Tape (or something similar)
3 paint trays and foam rollers
Paintbrush for trim and edging
Small detail paintbrushes (not required - but nice for fixing minor smudges)
Steps:
Tape your walls! Ceiling, trim, outlets, and finally, your design. Make sure the tape is taut before you place it, and press it on the wall very firmly! You want to make sure that no paint will bleed through, and any bubbles or gaps are removed from the tape.
Paint each section of your mural with 3 coats of paint. I like to trim the edges with a paintbrush, and then roll the larger areas with a foam roller. Wait ~3 hours+ for your final coat to dry
Slowly remove the tape from your design. You should have pretty clean cut lines! Use a fine paintbrush to clean up any imperfections
If you have an area where the tape created a gap and now needs to be painted in, place a fresh piece of tape around the new area and paint with the correct color. Use my photos above as a guideline for where you should need to place your new tape.
Once all the paint is dry, remove all tape, screw in any outlet covers, and place furniture back in its spot. Use my links above for color, design, and decor inspiration!
Thanks so much for following along! I hope you enjoyed this post, please comment and share! If you tried this out, I’d LOVE to see photos or hear how it went. Cheers!
Karlie
