How to Paint a Sunshine & Stardust Mural

I know you must be scratching your head, saying to yourself, “Didn’t she just put up a wallpaper mural in her dining nook less than a year ago?” And you would be right. Let me explain why I’ve already taken it down and than I am going to show you what I replaced it with. I still love the wallpaper mural that we had up, I loved the earthy and organic vibe it had.  However, when I looked around that room something was really bugging me…. there was nothing vintage in it, and I need something vintage in every space.  Also, with the kids being home and using the table for schoolwork, and Chris sitting here to work, we really needed more storage for their stuff.  I decided that what we needed was a beautiful vintage china cabinet on the wall next to the banquette.  We have plenty of room for it! That being said, a cabinet in that spot would totally block the flow of the mural and I couldn’t live with that. Down it came, and up went a new hand painted sunshine & stardust mural! I have yet to find “the one” when it comes to the cabinet, but the mural is up and ready when that time comes. (I use affiliate links and am an Amazon associate. I earn a small commission through qualifying links. I appreciate your support of this blog!)

This mural is one of those free spirited ones, similar to my black and white rainbow walls, in that there was not really any rhyme or reason. However I will talk you through it a bit, and I’ve created a video so you can see my process as well.

Materials Needed

• wall paint for background color (I used Sherwin Willams Pure White)
• wall paint or acrylic paint for pattern (I used Sherwin Williams Greenblack)
• angled brush (this is my go-to always)
• small angled artist brushes (I borrowed Emmy’s but these are great)

Instructions

Obviously over here, I needed to remove the old mural before I could begin anew. I ripped it off the wall some time in August one day when I was just feeling over it all. Peeling and pulling felt so incredibly good at that moment!  Of course, when I removed it, I had no idea what I would replace it with.

Once I removed the wall, there were areas where the paint had peeled a bit with it, so I gave it all a good sanding. That darker area you see to the right is where our old chair rail had once existed.

After I sanded it, I gave it a fresh coat of Sherwin Williams Pure White just to give me a nice blank slate.

Once it was painted and we had a nice big white wall to look at, I stared and stared for over a week, looking at it from every angle, and feeling so uninspired.

Whatever we decided on, I wanted it to flow with our kitchen and our pink living room.

Emmy had actually expressed interest in painting the mural on the wall, but when it came down to it, we were both very uninspired.  Eventually one day, I just came up with a plan after Emmy suggested we do something with a sun and when that happens, I just have to go with it before I overthink it.

Now, I know there are better ways to paint circles on the wall, but I used a large basket lid I had on hand and just created a loose outline of it using a pencil.  I drew this circle over the dining nook, and that was all of the real planning that went into this space.  Once the circle was drawn, I painted it in, and then free handed the squiggly sun rays and stars.

Each sun ray was first drawn with one stroke of the brush starting at the perimeter of the circle, and squiggling my way out.  Then I went back to fill it in and make it a little wider at the perimeter end. I created a video so that you could watch the process below. After the sun was complete, I went around and sprinkled stars in a few differing shapes and various sizes all over the wall. Below you can see how imperfect they are, but that’s what I wanted… a hand painted imperfect look.

By the way, at this point, Emmy was ready to jump in and help and added some stars.

Once everything was dry, I gave it all a second coat and it was good to go!

As promised, here is the time lapse video so that you can watch the process.

Overall, I am really happy with this wall (for now.) It was a fun project that really helped me “let go” of all of the inhibitions I have been putting on myself… let go of the fear of getting it wrong and just make messy imperfect progress.

I am still on the lookout for the “perfect” cabinet to place on that wall to the right of the banquette. I want to find something petite, with fun vintage details, that I can paint in either pink or mustard or (insert your suggestions here). Whatever color we choose, this room definitely needs that touch of vintage.

While I loved the previous mural, I think this one suits us a bit more because I am a sucker for black and white pattern…

…and it suits the Enneagram 4 in me, the individualist who thrives off of doing things her own way and having things that are unique. 😉

Would you trust yourself to just let go and have fun painting your own walls? I say go for it!