Vista ON VIEW

“I’ve always considered folk-art wall murals to be beautiful works of art,” Reneé declares. So when it came time to give her small upstairs landing some individuality, she decided to try her hand at painting one. To create your own wall mural, Reneé offers the voice of experience.

1. Represent your lifestyle. Reneé filled her scene with a house, barn, trees and river to reflect the landscape around her home.

2. Prepare the area. Divide the wall in half with a chair rail and paint the lower half a solid darker color to shrink your canvas. Paint the upper half a shade of white as a base for your artistry.

3. Plan the scene. Tape paper cutouts to the wall and sketch elements with a pencil to practice outlines and determine proportions before applying paint.

4. Start with the background. Reneé painted the sky, clouds and rolling hills before layering elements in the foreground.

5. Know when to stop. “With a mural, it’s hard to subtract, but you can add,” Reneé notes. If you’re tempted to continue, take a step back and reevaluate your project before moving ahead. If you regret a feature, try turning it into something else. The trees near the chair rail cover up a shrub Reneé didn’t care for.

To prevent the small upstairs hall from looking too busy, Reneé omitted the mural and stencil on the wall around the bedroom door. The worn pantry cupboard houses handcrafted log cabins and antique canvas duck decoys. These elements give the handpainted folk art on the wall a 3D effect. Dried winterberry sprigs insert a vivid hue to the pastoral setting. ★ FOR MORE INFORMATION, SEE RESOURCE GUIDE, PAGE 112.