Introduction
Kitchen murals can completely transform the look and feel of your kitchen. From bright and colorful designs that energize the space, to peaceful nature scenes that promote calm, murals provide a simple yet dramatic way to decorate any kitchen.
In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore why kitchen murals have become so popular, the different types of kitchen murals available, and tips for choosing, designing, and installing your perfect kitchen mural. Whether you’re searching for a focal point for your kitchen, wanting to hide flaws or dated decor, or just seeking an artistic way to express your personality, murals offer a bold, customizable, and budget-friendly option.
So if you’re looking to revamp your kitchen with brilliant bursts of color, serene natural vistas, charming old-world scenes, or any motif that reflects your taste and lifestyle, read on to learn how kitchen murals can stylishly transform your space.
Why Choose a Kitchen Mural?
Kitchen murals have surged in popularity in recent years for several excellent reasons:
Dramatic Visual Impact
Few decorating projects make as dynamic a visual statement in a kitchen as a wall mural. Murals can span across large sections of open wall space, serving as a prominent backdrop that immediately grabs attention.
Kitchens are often tight on space, so a mural provides maximum decorating impact in what is typically one of the most compact rooms of a home. Murals create an illusion of expanded space through their scale and perspective. Even smaller murals over an accent wall or depictions of windows can make kitchens feel larger and brighter.
Customization and Creativity
Murals allow you to infuse your unique personality and tastes into the heart of your home. You can choose any motif, color palette, and composition for your perfect custom mural.
Abstract designs, geometric patterns, replicas of famous artwork, photography of favorite places, images of loved ones – the options for customization are virtually endless. Kitchen murals provide a creative means of self-expression.
Easy Application
Kitchen murals are surprisingly straightforward and affordable to design and install. Most murals come as removable wallpaper or decals that can be easily applied to any smooth, cleaned surface.
Many companies offer convenient online services for designing and ordering custom murals. You can also find a range of pre-designed murals to select from. With simple application that doesn’t require painting or renovation, murals allow you to quickly update your kitchen’s look.
Cost-Effective Refresh
For a relatively reasonable price, murals can entirely change the feel of your kitchen while requiring less investment than a major remodel. Murals provide stylish refreshment and transformation that can stretch your decorating dollars.
You can completely redo the aesthetic of your kitchen for a fraction of the cost of significant structural changes. Murals offer an economic way to update a newly purchased older home or revive your existing kitchen.
Concealing Flaws
Do you dislike the existing paint color or wall texture but aren’t ready to undertake major resurfacing and painting? Kitchen murals conveniently conceal eyesores like cracked plaster or anything else you want to hide.
With their floor-to-ceiling scale, murals disguise imperfections better thanwallpaper borders or small wall accents. Murals divert eyes away from problem spots to scenes that excite your senses.
Versatility and Removability
Kitchen trends come and go, and murals provide the freedom to easily change your look regularly. If you grow tired of a mural, you can simply remove it and replace it with something new.
Many mural materials are designed for simple removal with minimal wall damage. Murals give you the versatility to adjust your kitchen’s style again and again.
Types of Kitchen Murals
From lively modern designs to classic imagery, kitchen murals come in a diverse range of types to enliven your space. Here are some of the most popular genres to consider:
Scenic Landscapes
What better way to start your day than the soothing vista of an ocean sunrise or a lazy country landscape?
Transport yourself to serene natural settings with landscape imagery like forests, beaches, deserts, waterfalls, and mountains. Scenic murals work especially well in breakfast nooks.
Cityscapes
For an urban feel, cityscape murals depict bustling city streets, famous skylines, or architectural landmarks from Paris, New York, San Francisco, London, and other cities worldwide. Black and white cityscapes also supply sophisticated flair.
Food and Drink
Whet your appetite with mouthwatering murals of appetizing foods, elegant tablescapes, wine bottles, coffee cups – anything cuisine related. Bakeries, bars, and restaurants often feature food-themed murals.
Floral and Botanical
Vintage flowered wallpaper remains a perennial kitchen decorating favorite for a good reason – florals look simply lovely in kitchens. Contemporary oversized floral murals in lush colors or black and white graphics supply fresh botanical style.
Geometric Patterns
For clean-lined mid-century or contemporary spaces, geometric murals add striking pops of color and visual interest with shapes like triangles, diamonds, lines, dots, and concentric circles.
Brick, Wood Planks, Tile
Faux architectural murals realistically replicate textures like weathered wood planks, worn brick walls, subway tiles, or stucco. Trompe l’oeil murals mimic an expansive backsplash or accent wall.
Chalkboard
Transform a wall into a coat of chalkboard paint without the mess! Write menus, grocery lists, recipes or uplifting quotes on a chalkboard-effect mural. Some can even double as magnetic bulletin boards.
Whimsical and Quirky
For a playful, eclectic vibe, choose a unique mural like a world map, astronomy charts, antique mailboxes, colorful diner-style signs, or custom motifs.
Children’s rooms are perfect for fun, one-of-a-kind murals. Only your imagination limits the possibilities!
Historical Scenes
Romanticize your kitchen with classical European imagery of Italian villas, French châteaux, Tuscan wineries, or Spanish patios. Replicas of Renoir, Monet, and other fine art masters also supply elegance.
As this wide range demonstrates, you can find a mural to match any kitchen’s style – from homey country to contemporary chic. Keep your kitchen’s existing color scheme and decor in mind as you select a fitting mural genre.
Tips for Designing Your Kitchen Mural
Once you’ve decided on the general mural genre, follow these tips to craft your perfect design:
Select an Appropriately Sized Wall
Carefully consider which wall has sufficient unbroken space for your mural. Center islands, doorways, and windows naturally chop up kitchen wall space. You’ll likely get the best visual impact on a sufficiently sized back wall.
Also check that the wall lacks protruding pipes, vents, light switches and other obstacles that can complicate installation. Measure to ensure your planned mural size can fit the wall you select. An expansive blank wall truly allows murals to shine.
Account for Sight Lines
Stand in different spots in your kitchen and make sure your selected wall is easily visible. Think about sight lines from not just the kitchen, but also connected rooms like dining and living spaces where the mural may be visible.
Choose a wall where you’ll get the full effect of the mural every time you enter the kitchen. This is another reason back walls tend to work so well.
Decide on a Color Scheme
Determine a cohesive color palette so your mural intentionally coordinates with your kitchen versus clashing. A mural color scheme can match your existing decor, or you can redesign your space around the new colors.
If you plan to change your kitchen’s paint, counters, backsplash, or cabinetry, select mural hues that will complement the updated kitchen. The mural colors shouldn’t fight for attention but rather integrate seamlessly into the whole space.
Incorporate Your Style
Make sure your mural aligns with your preferred decorating style, whether that’s modern, rustic, cottage, industrial, traditional, eclectic, coastal, bohemian, or other aesthetics. You want your mural to enhance your kitchen’s overall look rather than contradict it.
Keep in mind how color, content, and composition convey different stylistic moods. For instance, a peaceful cottage garden mural painted in pastels greatly differs from an abstract graffiti mural in neon brights, even though both are floral.
Consider Lighter Colors
Since dark murals can close in smaller kitchen spaces, it’s usually wise to opt for a lighter color palette. Dark-colored walls also absorb light instead of reflecting it, potentially making kitchens feel shadowy.
Aim for lighter, brighter colors like whites, off whites, beiges, light blues, and soft greens that keep kitchens looking airy and sunlit. If you want drama, add some darker accent colors with moderation.
Use Color to Direct Eyes
Strategically employ color to visually lead the eye around the kitchen. For example, you might make the top portion of a mural scene lighter and position darker hues near the bottom to draw eyes down.
Gradating from dark to light helps carry the gaze upward and makes rooms feel taller. Allow the mural’s color movement to complement the layout.
Set the Mood with Style
Determine the ambiance you want to achieve in your kitchen, then select imagery to match. Do you want an energizing space to start your day? Pick vibrant pop art graphics or uplifting quotes. Hoping for a calm sanctuary? Try a peaceful landscape or Zen abstract.
Need motivation to cook healthy meals? Go for a bountiful farm-to-table or fruit/veggie mural. Tailor the mural style to the mood you intend.
Highlight Architectural Details
Use the mural to accentuate pretty architectural elements like arched doorways, bay windows, brick walls, or pendant lighting.
For example, mimic the shape of an arched window with a mural positioned above the real window. Allow your mural to showcase attractive existing features.
Draw the Eye Upward
Since kitchen cabinets and counters dominate the lower half of kitchen walls, use murals to direct eyes upward for better balance. Positioning key mural elements higher on the wall leads the eye to the often overlooked upper half of the space.
Murals are perfect for drawing attention upward and making rooms feel more expansive. Floating clouds, tree branches, balloons, birds, and other upper wall details keep eyes looking up.
Add Visual Layers with Foreground Elements
To give a flat mural more dimension, include foreground elements like plants, furniture, textured surfaces, flowers, and other motifs that pop off the wall. Overlapping objects add depth and layers to mimic three dimensions.
Placing cutouts or detachable items against the mural creates fun interaction. For kids’ rooms, add playful peel-and-stick accessories they can move around.
Where to Position Your Kitchen Mural
While kitchen murals can go almost anywhere, here are prime locations to consider:
Back Wall or Focal Point
A large uninterrupted back wall offers ideal blank canvas to paint your mural masterpiece. This prominent location lets the entire mural unfold across your main sight line into the kitchen.
Since the back wall acts as the kitchen’s focal point, a commanding mural positioned here makes a dramatic statement visitors immediately notice. Allow it to become the kitchen’s crowning jewel.
Breakfast Nook
Cozy breakfast nooks and banquettes provide a perfect small-scale spot for murals. While you eat morning meals or sip coffee enclosed in the nook, an engaging mural keeps you company.
Surround yourself with gorgeous landscapes, city skylines, or charming cafés. A mural makes a breakfast nook feel like a destination.
Behind Ranges or Sinks
Another prime but often overlooked spot for murals is the wall directly behind kitchen appliances. Tiling only the immediate backsplash area leaves visual dead space on the wall around and above appliances.
Liven up this dull space with imagery like savory food, wine, botanicals, or café scenes themed to the room’s purpose. Appliance garages also allow you to conceal sections of the mural.
Kids’ Height
Whimsical kids’ murals full of animals, storybook characters, alphabets letters, shapes, and colors look loveliest when painted at child’s eye level. Keeping artwork lower allows it to be fully appreciated.
Use creatures, environments, or objects kids recognize from popular cartoons, nursery rhymes, and books for familiarity. Make it engaging and interactive.
Ceilings
Don’t forget about ceilings! Because eyes drift upward, overhead murals make pleasant viewing while cooking, cleaning, or conversing in the kitchen. Fluffy cloud-scapes supply a cheery sight.
For small or windowless kitchens, painted sky ceilings generate the illusion of openness. Keep ceilings light and bright.
Island Accent Walls
Large kitchen islands can hide dreary accent walls behind them. Perk up these forgotten spaces with fun murals like faux chalkboards, architectural textures, or drink recipes only visible from the sink area.
Smaller vignette murals here make big visual impact inUnexpected places as you traverse the kitchen.
Windowless Walls
Does your kitchen lack windows? Trick the eye into seeing open sky or sweeping outdoor scenery with vivid scenic murals. Well-executed landscapes convincingly transport viewers to lovely locales and make confined kitchens feel more expanded.
Strategically placed light sources that mimic sunlight streaming in add to the lifelike illusion. Windows to the world offer hope.
Installing Your Mural
From prepping your wall to affixing materials, here are tips for flawless mural installation:
Clean and Prepare the Wall
Start with an immaculate surface free of grease, soap residue, dust, or anything that can impede mural adhesion. Clean with TSP substitute before applying murals.
Fill any cracks or holes with spackle and sand smooth. Remove switch plate covers. Take time to prep properly for best results.
Follow the Manufacturer’s Instructions
Closely follow the mural product’s specific application directions. Different materials like removable wallpaper, peel-and-stick vinyl, liquid chalkboard paint, and decals each have their own methodology for ideal installation.
Don’t take shortcuts – carefully adhering to instructions prevents bubbles, tearing, wrinkles, or other application issues. Patience pays off.
Use a Wallpaper Smoothing Tool
Specialty wallpaper smoothing tools are invaluable for eliminating bubbles and wrinkles during application. The stiff sweeping edge presses materials firmly into place and squeezes out air pockets. This helps the mural stick tightly.
Work methodically across the wall, using the smoothing tool repeatedly as you go to keep the surface free of defects. Take satisfaction in flawless results.
Enlist Help for Larger Murals
For murals over 50 square feet, recruit a helper for a faster and easier installation. With two sets of hands, one person can apply mural strips while the other follows behind smoothing each section.
Teamwork allows you to keep working rapidly before adhesive dries. Large murals pose a one-person challenge.
Work From the Top Down
To avoid trapping air underneath, always adhere mural panels from the top of the wall down. Smooth panels horizontally while methodically moving lower across the wall. Gravity and vertical smoothing motions help seal the mural securely.
Starting from the bottom causes wrinkling problems. Let gravity help you glide each strip into place in a downward direction.
Use Low-Tack Painters Tape
Along the mural edges and seams, apply strips of low-tack painters tape to hold pieces steady and aligned as adhesive dries. The tape provides added stability and prevents shifting.
Remove tape carefully within 24 hours to avoid lifting fresh paint. Tape offers cheap insurance against slippage mishaps.
Take Your Time
Rushing through mural application almost guarantees subpar outcomes like crooked alignment, ripples, trapped air, gaps between strips, or peeling edges. Reserve ample uninterrupted time for careful focus.
Patience and precision yield flawless murals that look like works of art. Slow down and do it right the first time.
With proper tools, technique, and time investment, you can install an expert-looking wall mural worthy of a magazine photo shoot. Then stand back proudly and enjoy your dramatic decorating transformation!
FAQs About Kitchen Murals
How difficult is it to install a kitchen mural?
Most kitchen murals are designed for easy do-it-yourself application, with peel-and-stick wallpaper and decals that can be applied to any smooth, clean surface. Follow the product’s specific directions closely. Take care aligning edges and smoothing ripples for best results. Enlist a helper for large murals.
What surfaces can I install a kitchen mural on?
Kitchen murals can be applied to almost any smooth interior surface like drywall, plaster, paneling, or wallpaper. Ensure the surface is clean and smooth. Textured or uneven walls make application tricky. Murals also work on cabinets, islands, and even ceilings with proper preparation.
How do I remove a kitchen mural?
Many removable vinyl and wallpaper murals are designed