Wallnutz

We know intuitively that art can have far reaching, positive impacts on people of all ages. Schools, hospital and daycares often use wall murals to brighten and make welcoming areas that would otherwise be sterile and even scary. Because we care so deeply about our children, we want to offer them the benefits of exposure to art and enhance their creativity at home.

Children’s rooms at home are particularly fun to decorate with wall art because of the great flexibility with kids’ informal, playful spaces. This is why many parents like to use wall murals to decorate their children’s rooms. The walls are a blank canvas for creative wall decor, and painting walls is a very inexpensive way to decorate a room.

Of course, different styles, colors and subject matter in wall murals create different moods and this must be taken into consideration when planning a child’s space. Think first of the activity and behavior that you want to happen in a particular room.

Playrooms and commercial spaces like a child’s gym invite activity and you want these areas to motivate children into physical movement. Using many bright colors together and action oriented images are perfect for wall murals in these spaces. Reds, oranges and yellows or vivid blues and greens are cheerful colors both for backgrounds and details in wall murals for these areas. Using wall mural images that contain vehicles represent movement or people involved in sports are great choices for kids’ play spaces.

When planning a child’s bedroom decor, the goal is to have the child sleep and possibly play with toys in that area. Wall murals with a background of colors like blue, green, purple or earth tones are often good choices to set a calm mood.

The wall mural images in bedrooms are also important. Younger children may not like to be left alone for bedtimes, but will take comfort in animals, heroes or people with a kind appearance that are painted on their walls in a wall mural. We hear from customers that their young children have a great attachment to the objects in their wall murals, often naming the animals and people in their murals and saying “good night” or kissing them before going to bed. The children feel safe when surrounded by positive, familiar images that are “real” to them.

Older children take great pride in their rooms as it is the only space in the house where their own personality can come through in the decor. Consult your child before undertaking a big redecorating or wall mural painting project in his or her bedroom, because it is important that their personal interests and preferences are reflected in that space.

Whatever the purpose of the child’s room you are decorating, remember that incorporating wall murals in the décor is an easy and inexpensive way to stimulate imagination and expand children’s view of the world around them!
Copyright 2008, WallNutz LLC. All rights reserved.

It’s time to hit a home run by using this plan to decorate your little guy’s room. He’ll have everything from a baseball diamond to a scoreboard; the only thing he’ll be missing is the hotdog vendor!

Wall Color
Semi-gloss latex is your best choice for painting his walls. You certainly want him to leave his mark on the world, but not necessarily on his walls, and this is the best type of paint for wiping away handprints. Choose a white or light blue and paint the entire room, leaving the trim white or wood.

Baseball Diamond Mural and Scoreboard
Once the background color is completely dry, paint a baseball diamond on one of the walls using the simple WallNutz At Bat Mural Kit or the large Baseball Game Mural Kit.
On a different wall than the mural, trace out a rectangle 4 feet long by 3 feet high. The bottom of the rectangle should be approximately 3 feet higher than the baseboard. Use black chalkboard paint available at most craft or hardware stores to fill in the rectangle. Write “Home” and below it “Away” on the left side of the chalkboard and draw two rows of boxes horizontally across the board to show the score in each inning.

Border
Now let’s make a border to wrap around the room. You can use the Baseball Mini Mural Kit, or find an open tennis ball can or other round object of about the same size.
Trace around the can with a pencil, then draw two concave lines inside the ball to resemble a baseball’s stitching. Move the can a couple inches diagonally down from the first ball and repeat tracing. For the third ball, go diagonally up from the first ball. Continue tracing in this random pattern until you’ve wrapped around the room.
If the room is white, trace around the balls using a black Sharpie permanent marker with a medium point. You can again place the tennis ball can on your traced circle for a perfect edge. Using a red Sharpie marker, trace along the concave lines to create the “stitches”.
If your background is light blue, you will use white acrylic craft paint (available at all craft stores) to fill in each circle. Before painting, trace over stitching lines inside each ball with a red Sharpie marker. Now paint the inside of each ball with white paint. Retrace the stitching lines with the red Sharpie marker.

Window Treatments
Try a valance created using wooden bats to add a fun finishing touch to the room and is sure to be a hit! You’ll need to find a wooden bat or two depending on the number of windows in the room. One bat decorates two windows.
Take red, blue, yellow, green, orange, purple, black, and white ½” ribbon and cut into varying lengths between 6″ and 9″. Stick the ribbons vertically with sides touching to a strip of sticky backed Velcro that is as long as your curtain rod. Then stick the opposite side of the Velcro to the curtain rod. Stick the ribbons to the curtain rod. Next, cut the bat(s) in half lengthwise. (If you don’t have the equipment, find a carpenter to do this for you.) Screw the flat side of the bats into curtain rods covering the top of the ribbons. The ribbons should hang down behind the bats.

Finishing Touches
• Replace dresser drawer knobs with baseball shaped pulls.
• Buy an unfinished pine coat rack from a craft store. Paint the knobs white to look like balls, then paint two red concave lines on the inside of the balls to resemble stitching. Finish the coat rack by varnishing with a clear finish.
• Hang team pennants around the room.
• Check out all our other baseball wall décor options in the Shop by Theme Sports section. The Sports bathroom set would really add the finishing touches!
The Sudden Shadows Grand Slam and the Sudden Shadows Cather are a great combination for older kids.
Article copyright WallNutz LLC, all rights reserved.