before and after by Grace Bonney 92

before & after: scott + cheryl’s mural wall


this fantastic wall makeover comes from scott and cheryl white in michigan. inspired by paint by number artwork, they decided to turn an ebay painting into their own custom wall mural. after their paint-by-number painting arrived from ebay, scott made a color transparency of it and borrowed a friend’s projector to trace it on the wall with pencil. scott and cheryl created a chart of all the colors, recreating their own numbering system. then after a trip to michael’s to pick up paints, scott and cheryl painted in their large-scale paint-by-numbers mural by hand over a period of eight months. the final results are stunning and i’m so glad scott and cheryl had the inspiration to create something so fun on their walls. well done, guys!

[have a before & after you'd like to share on d*s? just shoot me an email right here with your images!]



CLICK HERE for more images of scott’s finished mural after the jump!


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92 Comments

Bridget

This would be an amazing pregnancy project – start in the nursery and take your time (with non-toxic paints of course!) and finish up right when the baby arrives!

beth

so so cool. I love this. If it didn’t take 8 months, I might be inspired to try my own!!

emma@50danskakvadrat

Haha, this is so funny! I actually bought a paint-by-numbers painting in a thriftshop a while ago because it was so…..strange! I can’t imagine anyone painting like that without the numbers, and I wonder if the person who made it thought it looked professional. It’s like when you trace something, you can tell immediately because something happens to the lines. My painting is of a little bird. A little, very very stiff bird!

hyzen

So fun, and cheerful, and attractive, and smart! Love it!

Rich (bro)

Nice work guys/kids! Looks better in person… Cheryl, are those your shoes?!?

Lisa-Marie

I am loving the before and after series!

Can I do the mural and the painted piano in one house I wonder?

erin

amazing! i’ve been looking for a projector for so long. as soon as i get one, i’d like to do something similar!

7rish

amazing work!!! this post reminded me of one episode of ‘united states of tara’ … made me smile =)

Laura Gaskill

Oh MY! Such a great technique to know – I am filing this one away for the future. And I love how bold & graphic the painting ended up looking once it was expanded to fill the whole wall. Nice!

XK

Reminds me of my grandparents’ wallpaper mural from the 70s in their downstairs basement. Although I didn’t appreciate it when I was a kid, I’m now intrigued by it and miss it a lot. This is even cooler! I love the colors… Very inspiring :)

Debra

I’m admiring the patience it took to create the mural as much as the mural itself!

carole

so clever! and, I love how the couch looks against the mural colors. (By the way, where did you get the couch? Is it the Petrie from Crate & Barrel?)

Halie

What a wonderful idea! Love how they didn’t just paint on a plain wall but used one with a door that you can walk through. So creative!

sherenec

one of the coolest before and afters I have seen. bravo!

Connie

B-E-A-utiful!
Hope they don’t put the couch in front of it.
Lovely

Angela

I am obsessed with vintage paint-by-numbers (am longing to start a collection beyond the one horse painting I have) and this is SO awesome! I love it.

stacey

love and love and then love this some more!!! fantastic idea – clever people!

Penny

Very creative idea. I’m totally jealous! I love fall colors, this would make me so happy. I can’t imagine it turning out that well if I did it. I imagine you must have some kind of artistic talent.

kiki

um, this is amazing. i think my favorite part is how long it would take! how many evenings do you have a creative itch, but not the motivation to start a whole new project?? i love these ongoing bits!

Stickyheels

My question is this: When you go to resell the home and you need to paint over this beauty, does it leave a lumpy, bumpy mess below the surface of the paint? I love this idea but I’m scared that it would call for new dry-wall in the area after it’s all done!

plastipop

@Stickyheels. We painted it on by hand and painting by hand does leave brush strokes. Stirring your paint well will prevents lumps. Alternately you could try doing a series of masks and spray it on. But depending on the number of colors that would be pretty hard core. If you wanted to go back to a solid color and not see any brush marks, sanding the surface and a good primer coat should do the trick.

pink

It’s just charming beyond belief. If I walked into an apt. and it had this, I’d rent it even if it were a studio! The kids could just sleep in the kitchen.

Hannah

Oh my goodness, this is just so beautiful! And such a coincidence, I was thinking about an alpine mountain scene mural the other day as I’m missing living in Whistler… may just take plunge and try it after seeing this. Love it!

Madie

wow, this is truly amazing. I love those colours and how good they fit in that interior!

Melanie

That really is amazing, I LOVE it and want to have a go. I’ll be trawling the junk shops from now on. Thanks for posting this!

bananasdontsk8

this is AMAZING!

I’ve been looking for a map large enough for one huge wall in my living room. maybe I should just project one and paint it on myself!

thanks, d*s, for all the inspiration!

Bernie

Nice to see someone actually follow through on a great idea! I’ve been thinking about doing something very similar for a long time, only I was going to outline my picture on the wall in blue (like the PBN paintings before they are painted) number them, paint the “key” on the wall, and have a party and give the guests a smocks, paint and a paintbrush….OK they’d probably want food and beer) I’d most likely leave some of it unpainted too) My husband thinks I’m nuts.

plastipop

We took about 8 months to finish it, but it wasn’t 8 months of work. It’s nice to not have a deadline. :) My best guess is that it took us somewhere around 60 hours of work, give or take…

Debra

Fantastic idea. Takes me back to childhood Christmas memories where I traditionally received a paint-by-numbers set from my parents every year. Hmmm, so off to consider a good spot in my home for MY paint-by-number project.

home wall art

I was really fascinated by the paintings and how the painter turned the wall into a very amazing wall design. A creative person really has a talent in making a dull wall into a very fantastic one. The style is so new and so unique. I guess some will follow this style at their home because it’s really very inspiring.

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