I’ve painted original murals before for my nephews, but it’s been a while. These giant paint-by-numbers murals have me inspired though, maybe enough to actually commit to making one! It might be something fun to do in the play room area of the basement.
I don’t think it would be difficult, but it would be incredibly time-consuming. Here’s a peek at the process…
A crazy amount of work. I think the results are just the right amount of cheesy goodness though! You like? Or are they too cheesy for you?
Comments
77 responses to “Paint-by-Numbers, Giant Wall Mural Inspiration”
I love the look of paint by number so, no, not too cheesy for me.
Not too cheesy! But I think I’d rather take the time I would spend painting a mural and be outside enjoying the real thing.
I love the look of these! :) I would certainly put one in my own home. It would be a great family project, too, once the kiddos were old enough to participate.
Not too cheesy! I love them. I think you just have to be selective of the room/wall. I looks like it can be overpowering.
Love it. I say go for it!
I *love* these!! I’ve been contemplating doing a big ol pirate ship one on a wall, somewhere – I just have to find the empty wall & the time! So inspiring. :)
I love this! Not too cheesy for me.
These are SO awesome!!! I want to do one!!! I think they’re great-looking!
I think with the right image and color scheme, it can look refreshingly modern. I will put in in my “idea box” for the future!
I think this would be so much fun to do! Not too cheesy for me! I especially love the first one with the deer.
not too much for me at all. but i’ve always had an affinity for paint by numbers…this would take that love the extra step. it would be interesting to do this with a skewed color palate – all pinks/fuschias/reds or blues or greens. it would be amazing.
I actually find them a little on the cheesy side, except if you used different shades (tones?) of the same colour as you said. I would try all greys!
A tonal version would be pretty interesting.
I LOVE that! Maybe I have a soft spot in my heart for giant murals because when I was little my mom painted my entire room, floor to ceiling (actually, AND ceiling) to look like an outdoor landscape. She just free handed it all and it was fabulous. Complete with a little cottage painted in the hills, a plastic picket fence border near the floor and a giant tree in one corner. And gardens around the bottom… and clouds that I always thought looked like dinosaurs and cars… oh the nostalgia :) (It’s my job as a high school senior, right?) But yeah, that’s really cool looking. I hope I get to do something fun like that in a space someday.
OMG I love those!! I grew up addicted to paint by numbers. When I see paint by number art, I feel STRONG nostalgia. I would love one of those somewhere in my home!!
I like the paint by numbers ones OK but frankly I like the ones you did for your nephews a lot more–and there wouldn’t be the tedious transfer process.
I would find it hard to live with my own art or mural. I’m too critical of my painting technique, but I could handle PBN because it’s not my design.
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I think they are awesome…
I love them and would love to take one on, unfortunately my house just doesn’t have the bones for it. I think I might try enlarging a paint by numbers onto a big canvas, though. So much easier to just take down when the parents come to visit then, rather than explaining how not everyone likes chintz and Persian carpets. Again.
i like. but i could see tiring of it fairly quickly… and that’s a LOT of work to outgrow!
I like these a lot but I think I would tire of them fairly quickly. They would be crazy amazing in a play room though.
I love the way they look but your are right that would take forever. I also love the look of something freehanded.
Wooooow. I do love the look.
Steph
LOVE LOVE LOVE!! this from a person that has a cardboard deer head in their livingroom!!!
Eep! This is beyond awesome! Time consuming, but fun. Makes me want to paint my whole hall way that way. Thankfully I’m a renter so I won’t be caught up with such craziness. Still… giant painting, perhaps?
Cool!
Product idea: someone could sell the stencil, paint-by-number part as giant wall decals, so you’d just have to stick that on your wall and then paint it.
Someone needs to get on that. It would be the next generation of wall decals.
I am so thrilled to see this post! I’ve been dreaming of doing the wall over my bar area for years- perhaps this will give me the nudge to get started. I’d love to see your take on it as well, it’s so playroom perfect!
I love these! What a great idea to fill a wall with so much color and cheer.
When I used to do paint-by-numbers we’d sometimes switch around the colors to make something more personalized – I wonder if you could do a really fun one but in the colors you want; prink, orange, cream, brown, etc.? Would be neat to see how that looked – more modern, maybe.
I love it! But the time it would take would be crazy. I collect tropical themes PBN and I find a grouping gives kind of the same feeling without the time factor. Here are some pics of my collection: http://talesofaretromodernhousewife.blogspot.com/2011/08/vintage-collections-paint-by-numbers.html
Thanks doll,
The Glamorous Housewife
I like! And as a child, I would have just been mesmorized by something like that!
I wouldn’t want one in a grown-up area, but love the idea for a playroom, etc.
that would look amazing and I know you pick an awesome one to piant
That is kick-arse awesome!!!
We did one for my son’s nursery and Love Love Love it. Totally worth the effort.
http://easterkiwi.wordpress.com/2011/01/06/paint-by-number-wall-mural/
Love. It.
Thanks doll,
The Glamorous Housewife
That’s fantastic!
PS There are a few more examples here:
http://bit.ly/ob3Pp0
I love it, but I think I would be more inclined to paint it on a huge canvas and hang it instead of painting an entire wall.
I love it. And I think the concept would only work for a playroom or a child’s bedroom, or space. Just because its very whimsical
This would be a great project for a nursery/playroom, but I think you have to have a fairly well-sized room and a lot of neutral furniture/decorations to pull this off without it being overwhelming!
Of course it has a cheese factor. But that doesn’t mean that it couldn’t be a wonderful graphic element that would be perfect for a child-oriented space. I’m confident that you could pull it off!
I adore this! I love how cheesy it is. It’s stunning. beautiful. I want it in my home!
LOVE, love, love!! You need to do it. I’d love to see what you do. I’m sure it’ll be a show stopper.
I love them and have been considering one for my home. However I couldn’t find a vintage PBN that I liked enough AND that coordinated with my furnishings. Instead I used the vector trace option in Illustrator and limited it to 16 colors on an image of the formal english garden in a park by my house. It now looks like a PBN and it’s custom.
I’m thinking of doing a trial run on a canvas for my office to see if I like it in real life as much as on the screen.
That’s a smart idea, creating your own like that.
I have been obsessed with Paint by number for awhile. I’ve seen PBN wallpaper but this mural is sick (in a good way).
Ooh, there’s PBN wallpaper?
What a fantastic idea for a mural! I love that style of painting. Well planned out. Well executed.
That is a great idea. But oh the enlarging and stenciling..I don’t know if I’d have it in me to put in that much effort. I do like the idea of it being sold already enlarged. As Caitlin suggested.
I’m surprised by how much I like these.
ohhhhhh im in love , if only we had a playroom……….
I love them!!
I love that camp. I think this is a very worthwhile project. You could just start with a smaller section and add on over the years. I would have loved to have something like that when I was a kid – but paint hadn’t been invented yet. Ann
i’m a little confused. do you do it yourself or is there a kit that you can put on the wall for the numbers? i totally dig it.
No kit that I know of.
want, want, want!!!
I own an inn in northern california and one of our rooms has a paint by number wall – in two years, it has been completed (and started all over) FIVE times. People love it. Me too!
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.184176961261.135901.146498071261&type=1
Brilliant! I love the idea of guests getting to participate!
I love paint by number!
I love this idea! I want to do smaller versions of this idea in my garage. IS there a tutorial?
Never mind…found it. Thanks!
[…] Awesome images courtesy of Cabin Collective via Making It Lovely […]
It would be a labor of love but what a beautiful touch for a room, especially for a baby.
Gorgeous! I feel so inspired by this look! It is definitely worth the effort, and with such busy walls you wouldn’t need a huge amount of furniture! Love it!!
:) Hazel
Hello! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I LOVE this post. I couldn’t get it off my mind, so I decided to post about it on my blog also, Nine Red, and link back to you. Thanks for sharing such a great project, it looks SO nice!
http://ninered.blogspot.com/2011/09/spotlight-paint-by-number-murals.html
Thanks!
Amazing!!!
Wow, that’s fantastic. I especially love the first one with the deer. I like how it goes right over the door. Someday I’ll have a place big enough to handle something like this, and it will be awesome. Thanks for the inspiration!
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Here is a little tip to save some work on this. Print the numbers and outlines on a transparency and project it onto the wall with an old school overhead projector (see them at thrift stores all the time for like 10$). Put a couple Xs on the transparency and trace those on the walls so you can always line up your work between painting sessions.
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This is crazy wonderful!!
Where can I find the projection or the template for each of the “paint by numbers” depicted?
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