In one Brazos Valley home, images of water fill each wall, while a shadow of a shark lurks on the ceiling above and rainbow-colored coral decorates the baseboards. In another, each room is packed with a different rainforest scene, some with tropical greenery, exotic birds and vibrant fruits.
Twenty-five years ago, Navasota artist Pattie Pederson painted her first indoor mural on a kitchen wall, designed to replicate marble backsplash. Soon after, the same homeowner challenged Pattie to paint a bathroom to appear as if it were the bottom of the ocean. Now, Pattie has endless stories about creating grassy plains, underwater creatures and leafy forest landscapes. While aquarium and rainforest scenes were a popular trend in the 90s, some homeowners still yearn for lively indoor art today. According to a 2024 trend analysis by Zillow, murals are showing up in homes 18% more often because of increasing access to artists and wallpaper murals. Bryan/College Station artist Bree Frasier says she began painting murals for money after losing her job during the pandemic. The apartment complex she was working for found out she painted and asked for a mural in their office and she has completed many more since then.
“I painted the horse that is on Holleman Oaks Apartments,” Bree says. “I’ve painted their bus stop. I’ve done their office twice, their laundry room. At Dominik Apartments I’ve done their mail room and office.”
Bree has painted both residential and commercial murals and says she always encourages customers to go big.
Sometimes murals are hardly noticeable and used in homes to mimic a particular texture or design that is only possible through paint, Pattie says.
“There was a new home build where the owner wanted the double barrel ceilings painted because she couldn’t find anyone that would actually put tile on it,” Pattie says. “She still wanted it to look like tiles, so her tile person said, ‘I know an artist that can make it look like whatever you want it to look like.’”
Pattie’s painting process varies according to the size of the mural, but for some, she creates a sketch and then uses an “old school projector” to trace onto the large surface. “At that point, it’s like painting by numbers,” Pattie says.
Another important step to creating a mural is deciding which paint to use, Pattie says. Paints for an indoor mural can be significantly cheaper than an outdoor mural, because of the lack of a need for weather and fade-resistant paint. One tip is to observe whether an indoor mural will receive any sunlight to determine which paint might preserve its longevity, Pattie adds.
“For an indoor mural, I can just use basic acrylics,” Pattie says. “I don’t use the cheap craft acrylics because they don’t hold their color as long or as well, especially if the room gets sunlight. I usually buy a higher grade, and if somebody wants to pay for the paint, then I’ll get the highest quality possible.”
Both artists agree that tools like levelers and painter’s tape are also necessary.
“The tools now for leveling and finding your center and all of that are so cheap at Lowe’s, that someone could easily get one of those laser levels, measure out their wall and mark it off using a laser level,” Pattie says.
When painting large animals or characters like the large skeleton mural at her business, Pot Heads Plant Shop, Bree says using a grid can make painting a large canvas easier.
“To get things proportional, sometimes you have to grid your wall and grid your sketch and take it square by square,” Bree says.
A muralists’ pricing determination may depend on each square foot, but the price can also depend on the quality of paint, location of the mural and time spent on the project.
“The first thing I’m going to ask is how big it is because I gotta know how much surface area I’m covering so I know how much paint I have to buy,” Bree says. “Then, we’d discuss the details of the mural and I’ll put a price together with that information. I’ll come up with all the supplies and costs and send it to them. The more expensive it gets, I’ll start covering paint supplies.”
According to the U.S. News and World Report, the most popular places for home murals in 2024 include dining rooms, living rooms, bathrooms, bedroom walls and children’s rooms. Pattie says homeowners have begun reclaiming the home mural as a colorful expression of themselves through the use of colors, geometric shapes, font, scenery, pop art, and more. She’s even painted a graffiti mural.
“Most people say, ‘We’re gonna paint the kid’s room,’ but it’s not just the kids’ rooms that you can add a mural,” Pattie says. “You can do your room, your dining room, you could do just one wall. You can find art that you like, and make the mural match each room. You can do pops of color. You can make paint look like anything.”
Pattie is available to complete commissioned art pieces of all kinds and can be reached through Facebook at The Art of Pattie. Bree can be reached for custom art on Instagram @breezzy_artdesigns.
