What is a good site for wall decorations?

Would you consider having a local artist paint a custom mural?

What @marina said!

1. You could have something just-right for you, rather than almost-right.
2. You could have the artist make the piece on a material that’s removable – I think those photo-murals pretty much stay with the original wall.
3. You’d be a Patron of the Arts, and would get a medal you could use as decoration on another of your walls. The Obama Administration, in its audacity, has instituted an Original-Art-Buyers medal. I bet you didn’t even know that.
4. You’d have the great fun of finding an artist you like – that means going to galleries, looking online, immersing yourself in a world you’d enjoy.
Good luck, hey.

—you could even ask who on fluther could make you a mural—

Blik has several options to put vinyl on your walls. They have their own designs or you can submit custom ones. We had them in our office and they are very easy to apply and really make the room unique.

They are supposed to leave no residue when removed but I don’t know how accurate that is, as we have not removed ours.

@Marina…I did just that immediately after having my yard landscaped. My neighbors garage wall abuts my property and it was just a big blob of yellow. I got their permission to repaint the one side. They would not be able to see it anyhow, but I also wanted to make certain they did not have plans to put in a window, or modify the wall some other way, or even demolish the whole thing. I found an ad of a local mural painter who came by the house. The 85 year old Mexican American artist had a very impressive portfolio but the gentleman only did interior murals. He referred me to another artist who did exterior murals. A 90 year old Mexican-American artist came by, shared his like-wise impressive portfolio with me, we agreed to a price and I hired him on the spot. I reasoned that the worst thing I could do was give an artist very specific direction and curtail his artistry and creativity. I gave him a theme only, a tropical landscape with palm trees in the distance and birds of paradise in the forefront (my planned planting in front of the mural) and if possible to do something to blend in the adjacent bouganvilla.. Other than those directions, I gave him carte blanche to do as he pleased. A few days later he showed me a sketch of Diamond Head, Hawaii and showed me magazine photos of plants, etc., he would be working into the mural. He went to work that same day.

He loved the project and was very animated as he worked. He set up scaffolds and was climbing up and down and stretching over adjacent plants and to see him move, you would never guess he was 90 years old! He had an audience everyday. I would lay out a blanket and chair, get some sun, play with the dogs and watch the artist at work. The two neighbor boys, aspiring artists themselves were over often and loved to chat with the artist. Other neighbors would stop by every few days to see the progress. The artist could not stop adding more and more detail, he loved what he was creating and the attention it was getting along the way. And the result was and still is (about nine years later), gorgeous. He said he ended up putting in nearly twice the amount of time he had anticipated. I paid him a very large bonus, allowed him to use me as a reference, and I allowed him to show the mural off to his friends and the entire congregation of his church (I surprised them with refreshments and had set up extra chairs and benches for their comfort). We stayed in contact for several years, but I haven’t heard from him in the last four or five. He’d be nearing 100 years of age, if he is still with us. I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if he is….he acted like a young man with a tremendous passion for his art and it was obvious to all, he loved his work and he loved life.

@whatthefluther What a great real-life story. Do you have a photo of the mural you could link to? That sounds wonderful.

@Marina…I have a photo album full of progress photos, info on the artist, etc., but won’t be able to post anything until this evening (Sherry is doing a marvelous job of reorganizing our home, and I’m sure all our photos are together and organized…only problem is I have no idea where the bounty of photos are located! She’s at work, but when she gets home this evening, I’ll grab them, scan some and post a link). I’ll send you a PM once I have them posted here. See ya…wtf

@Marina… I found a photo of the mural with some others loose photos. Enjoy!

@whatthefluther GA lots of lurve

@YARNLADY…Thank you. That mural has given me a lot of pleasure over many, many years and to me is worth many more times what I paid for it. It still strongly exudes the spirit of the artist that created it and it is quite an attention-getter.

@whatthefluther That mural makes me want to sit out in the shade next to it.

etsy has a variety of wall art, from decals to pictures, and though i’ve never looked for murals, it’s quite possible that you will find some nice ones there. good luck. (:

Just look up ‘Wall Decorations’ or ‘Wall Murals’ on Google. Use the web or Images. The Images can give you inspiration.