Family Mural Project
Our family has toyed with the idea of painting a mural on our fence for years. We love the idea of adding playful art to the neighborhood but never took the time to actually make it happen.
Until, of course, a global pandemic hit and we were suddenly shut in at home wondering what to do with our kids during our makeshift homeschool hours. Before their schools started distance learning we made a calendar and the four of us decided to each teach a homeschool class. Karuna taught Ora singing, Ora taught me and Karuna gymnastics, Aaron held a writing workshop for the girls, and I decided to lead a family mural class.
The rest of the classes fizzled out after a day, but the mural class was something that we could all do together so it seemed to keep everyone’s interest.
Once our family mural was finished I got a lot of questions about how we did it and I thought it might be helpful to share our process here. If you’re like us and have been putting off this incredible project for years, just do it! You don’t even need to have drawing skills- some bold colors in stripes or different shapes is just as fun and would still look great.
How to Paint a Family Mural
Step 1: Hold a Family Meeting
We first sat down together with pencils and paper to brainstorm and create a plan. Here are the questions we asked ourselves:
Where should it go? Do we have a section of a fence or a wall that could use a splash of fun? Do we want it to be visible to the neighborhood or is there somewhere in our backyard that would work? (If you don’t have outdoor space, is there an interior wall that you could use?).
What images do we want in the mural?
Next have each person sketch out ideas. Then have one person combine the sketches into a final plan.
Step 2: Gather Supplies
- Exterior house paint.
A quart of each of the primary colors (red, blue, yellow) plus white and black. A quart of each color was way more than we needed but it was the smallest option of exterior paint at our local store.
We used Benjamin Moore low lustre Exterior paint in these colors:
Red 2000-10
Brilliant Blue 2065-30
Yellow 2022-10
Super White PM-1
Black 2132-10
Although it was more paint than we wanted to purchase, we now have a lot of paint left over -which is a good incentive to create another mural.
- Containers with Lids (for paint mixing and storing)
We used plastic containers from our recycle bin to mix and store additional colors. The amount you’ll need depends on how many colors you plan on mixing or how much of each color you will use. If you only need a small amount of one color, you can mix it on a paper plate instead (paper plates make for easy clean up!).
- Paper Plates (for paint mixing)
- Plastic spoons (for mixing and scooping)
- Chalk (for drawing the design before painting)
- Paint Brushes
If you plan on painting a large section in one color, then you’ll want a wide brush. We ended up only using small/fine brushes because our design was pretty detailed.
- Jar/Bucket of Water (for washing brushes)
- Rags or Paper Towels (for wiping or drying brushes)
- Painters Tape (optional)
You may want tape for your design or to mark off your mural area, but we didn’t use any.
- Primer (optional)
If you are painting an entire section of a wall or fence, primer will help the mural last longer. We left a lot of wood visible, so we decided to skip the primer.
Step 3: Mix Colors
Using the containers and the plastic spoons, mix two primary colors together in a clean jar. You can add a little white or black for tinting if you want.
Step 4: Draw the Design onto the Surface with Chalk
Step 5: Paint the Mural!
It was a hot day, so we set up chairs and water on the side for breaks. It also helped to have trays and a small table nearby to hold the paint.
Day 1 complete! We decided to call it a day when we started to loose steam. We saved all the paints in the lidded containers, washed the brushes and waited until the next day to finish.
Day 2: Adding the finishing touches.
Here is the finished mural! It was so much fun and nobody wanted it to end, so we talked about adding more to the mural as time goes on. Maybe adding more to the fence outside of this design?
Have you ever thought about painting a family mural? It was such a fun activity for all of us, I can’t believe it took us so long to finally do it. If it’s something you’ve considered, I hope you go for it. If you have questions, let me know in the comments below or feel free to email me.
Or if you love the idea of a family art project, but aren’t able to do a mural, check out the Family Canvas Challenge here. It’s also a great alternative to a mural if you have young kids!
