Home murals

Harry andDarlene Andris could have put up a paintingin the guest bathroom. They could have opted for a tapestry or a collage of pictures on the walls. In the end, they didn't do any of those things.

Instead, the Friant, Calif., couple asked decorative painter Heather Lewis to create a mural that would cover the entire wall space.

Taking inspiration from the dark aqua and black granite countertop and fish wall art, Lewis painted her imagined vision of Atlantis, complete with fish, a sea turtle and ancient ruins under the sea.

"You have the true sense you're looking at (Atlantis) through goggles," says Harry Andris, 57.

"It's just so unique," adds Andris' wife, Darlene, 55. "There's not another one like it."

Similar to framed paintings, painted and wallpaper murals are works of art, just on a larger scale. And like any precious work of art, they can be pricey. However, they are an investment that many homeowners are willing to make.

Interest in residential murals is at a peak right now, says Fresno decorative painter Mark DeRaud.

"It's exploding," says DeRaud, who has been painting murals since 1991. "It's a response to the war, to Sept. 11. People are nesting. People are investing in their homes.

"They add all those things - paintings, sculptures and tapestries - but murals tend to be unique to the home. People want what no one else has because the home is becoming an expression of who they are."

Lewis, owner of LayneStudio in Madera, agrees.

"I used to think there would be a down time at some point in the year, like Christmas," she says. "I haven't found there's a down time."

One popular mural request is anything of Tuscan, such as an image of an Italian villa.

Another image customers like is angels. "Everybody loves angels," DeRaud says. "Angels are all over the place."

Murals often take up most or all of a wall. Sometimes, they cover more than one wall, or even the complete room. Common places for murals are around entryways, dining rooms, bathrooms, children's rooms and ceilings.

"It tends to get addictive," Lewis says. "I've got clients telling me once they get one, they want more."

That's definitely true with the Andrises. Their first project with Lewis was a painting of a woman and a cherub on their chimney in 2002.

"Heather captured a softness and beauty we're delighted with," Darlene Andris says. "People come here, and they just stare at her."

Impressed with Lewis' work, they commissioned her to do more, including mural panels for their dining-room ceiling, oval his-and-hers murals in the master bathroom and the underwater scene in the guest bathroom.

Artists each have their own process when working on a mural. But in general, clients can expect a few rough suggestions, a quote and some time before the mural is completed.

DeRaud and Lewis encourage homeowners to look through magazines and on television for ideas of what they want.

Homeowners sometimes "have a vague idea that can be translated a thousand different ways," DeRaud says. "Slow down. Take a look at a lot of pictures and create a scrapbook of what they like. Then take those down to two or three ideas."

From there, the artist will create sample boards, which a client may have to pay for.

"Going slow will make the process go faster," he says.

Once a client picks a design, wait until the mural is complete before judging it, DeRaud and Lewis say.

"Most people haven't seen the (whole) process and panic when they think it's not turning out the way they think it should," he says.

Darlene Andris admits there was a moment when she was worried about what Lewis was doing to their guest bathroom because of the colors she was using. But Andris didn't stop Lewis from doing her job, and she's glad she didn't.

From start to finish, the process of getting a mural completed can take several weeks to months.

The cost of hand-painted murals varies. They can run from $500 to $4,000, depending upon the complexity, Lewis says. DeRaud charges about $20 to $200 a square foot, also depending upon the skill level needed.

Alternatives to painted murals are wallpaper ones, which often cost less and take less time.

Heather Mayes of Fresno did consider a painted mural for a wall in her daughter Amanda's bedroom. "I had a girlfriend at work who had her daughter's room hand-painted," she says. "But it was out of our budget."

Instead, she opted for a wallpaper mural. "They are an affordable alternative to hand-painting your walls, and it was an easy way to completely change the look of Amanda's room," she says.

Wallpaper murals are nothing new. "They've been around for a long time," says Gerald Bishop, owner of Wallcoverings by Gerald Bishop and the Fresno Wallpaper Design Warehouse in Fresno. "They come in all different sizes."

Mayes recalls seeing wallpaper murals as a youth in the 1970s. That memory inspired her to visit the Fresno Wallpaper Design Warehouse and check whether they were still available.

"I was surprised they still made them," says Mayes, who recently had a Hawaiian-theme wallpaper mural put up in her daughter's bedroom. "Once we saw this design, it was perfect."

Besides pictures of sandy beaches, the ocean and breezy palm trees, wallpaper murals come with other themes such as sports, gardens and fantasy.

"You can get just about anything, but many are scenic," Bishop says. Some murals are pictures that have been blown up, while others are reproductions of hand-painted prints.

Melissa Avery of Clovis combined two wallpaper murals to create a magical scene for 4-year-old daughter Ashley Knox. The mural of two castles, flowing water, rolling hills, a galloping unicorn and a rainbow doesn't look like wallpaper, which is what impressed Avery, 26, a stay-at-home mother.

"It doesn't look anything like wallpaper," she says. "When I thought of wallpaper, I thought of something old-fashioned. When I remember wallpaper - with the same patterns everywhere - I didn't want repetitive designs. I wanted something that looked unique."

Wallpaper murals come in panels and usually must be ordered. They are similar to regular wallpaper but are thinner and smoother. They also cost $89 to $139 or more.

Homeowners can hang their own wallpaper mural, but they need to do some planning. "When you do a mural, you need to lay each panel out and figure out the sequence," Bishop says.

Each panel is numbered. Panels can be cut to more manageable sections. Bishop then marks the wall where each panel belongs.

"If you draw them out you eliminate the guesswork of where each panel goes," he says.