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A simple step-by-step foggy mountain wall mural (beginner level)
Painting a mountain mural on a kids’ bedroom wall is a simple way to make an accent wall and bring the beauty of nature inside. In this post, I will share step-by-step how to paint a wall mural.
- Products used in this photo
- Tutorial: how to paint a mountain mural
- Materials you will need
- 1. Sketch it out on the piece of paper
- 2. Transfer your sketch to the wall with a pencil.
- 3. Choose your paint
- 4. Paint mountain ranges in layers
- 4. Create foggy mountains effect with spay paint
- 5. Create the bottom layer.
- Conclusion
Products used in this photo
You can do a wallpaper mural or a painted one, at first I considered a wallpaper mural for my son’s bedroom, but the cost was more than I was willing to spend. I was quoted $960 for the mountain wallpaper (without installation) plus the shipping cost. This was out of my budget, so I decided to do it myself.
As a disclaimer, I was to say that I never had painted anything of this sort and I don’t consider myself especially gifted in drawing or painting. So if I was able to do it, you can too.
Tutorial: how to paint a mountain mural
Materials you will need
Dark and light paint
1. Sketch it out on the piece of paper
Imagine that the piece of paper is the wall, so sketch it out as you would on the wall. Get creative: create layers, make them overlap, and make some ridges more uniform, while adding more peaks to the other ones. Leave at least 1/4 of the space on the top blank, you don’t want your mountains to be touching the ceiling.
If you don’t like how it turned out, start over. Keep sketching until you are happy with the result. Here is my drawing. Feel free to copy it.
2. Transfer your sketch to the wall with a pencil.
Once you like your sketch, transfer it to the wall using a pencil. Remember about proportions, and leave 20% to 25% empty on top before drawing the first layer.
3. Choose your paint
I wanted to create a monochrome mountain so I choose one light paint SW 9583 Sanctuary and one dark SW 9599 Limestone. Later, I used SW 9583 Sanctuary to paint the remaining 3 walls.
I choose designer edition paint in a flat finish.
4. Paint mountain ranges in layers
Start by using your original paint light paint to paint the top of the mountains (the sky). Add about 1 teaspoon of the dark paint and paint the first layer of the mountains.
To create a subtle effect don’t overdo on adding dark paint. 1 teaspoon to a cup of paint is enough.
4. Create foggy mountains effect with spay paint
This is a very simple and cool way to add a foggy mountain effect using spray paint. After you are done painting each layer go and spray the bottom of the layer with white/french white paint (I used both).
5. Create the bottom layer.
To create a contrast, I added more dark paint to the one before the last layer and used the original black paint on the bottom layer. That gave it more definition and created the 3D effect.
Conclusion
This project took 6- 8 hours to complete, but it was a relatively simple project and totally worth the time to bring the majestic mountain scene into my son’s room.
For more beginner-level DIY to create an accent wall check out this post: Create a bedroom accent wall using wall molding
How To Paint A DIY Mountain Mural (No Art Skills Required!)
With only a few weeks to go until baby #2’s arrival, we have been starting to feel a fire under our butts to get this nursery into shape. I had a vision since the beginning of my pregnancy that I wanted to do a really graphic nursery mountain mural and, a high-impact room with an adventure, camp-y kind of vibe.
So the first item on the list?
A DIY nursery mountain mural:
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- Wall Paint in 3 colours:
- Medium gray: I used PARA Paint’s ‘Courtyard’ (eggshell finish)
- Light gray: I used PARA Paint’s ‘Runway Coach’ (eggshell finish)
- Black: I used this flat black paint from a previous project, and it worked perfectly! I LOOOVE this paint.
- Any of these small foam rollers and a tray for doing the large mountains
- A fine paintbrush like these for any touch-ups needed
How to Create your Nursery Mountain Mural:
Step 1: Tape out 3 Forefront Mountains
To start with, I created the three forefront mountains. I didn’t draw any lines, just sort of went with it with the tape. The further left mountain crosses the seam between the two walls, which I thought would give it a bit more dimension.
At the bottom of the mountains where two meet, you need to go and trim the tape so that you don’t have overlapping pieces that go down to the floor. Just use scissors to get a precise line with your tape.
Speaking of tape, this is a situation where you definitely want to use a quality painter’s tape. I personally like this 3M scotchblue painter’s tape.
Don’t get the cheap knock off stuff – saving the $2 won’t be worth it when it comes time to take the tape off.
Step 2: Go over Tape with Damp Cloth
One trick that I read about to ensure that the tape gives the most crisp line possible, is to go over it with a damp cloth. The wetness supposedly activates some element of the tape glue. Since I wanted my lines to be really crisp, I went over all the tape with a damp cloth before painting.
You can see that I also added in the tape for the rear mountains. Again, I didn’t plan them out – I just put tape up on the wall and stepped back to make sure I liked how they looked. I tried to keep the peaks nice and varied. Like the bottom of the front mountains, I needed to trim the tape where two pieces met to form the bottom corners.
Step 3: Paint Mountains
I painted the front mountains a medium gray and the background mountains a light gray. I did two coats, about an hour apart, before I pulled off the tape.
Step 4: Pull off Tape + Fill In Gaps
Don’t let the paint dry for hours and hours before you pull off the tape. Always best to get it off after say 30-60 minutes when it’s only partially dry, to avoid lifting off super dried paint.
Once the tape came off, I was left with this. You can see the gap between the two sets of mountains.
To fill those in, I waited until the paint was fully dry and then put up more tape following the line of the dark gray front mountains. I also had to add small pieces at the top to line up with the light gray mountain range.
Step 5: Add your “Snow”
I also thought it would be fun to have “snow” on the peaks of the front mountains, so added those patterns in as well. I painted them in this flat black paint, and filled in the light gray paint.
The Result:
When the tape came off, this is what I was left with! Such a cute nursery mountain mural!
I’m really pumped about how it turned out. It feels graphic and fun, but not overwhelming in the room. I did fix up a few little spots with a small fine paintbrush where the tape had leaked, but overall the lines came out decently well. I think the damp cloth thing actually worked, so definitely do that if you try this (or any other painter’s tape project) at your pad.
It took a full day to do the mural, but that was because it had to be done in stages. This is such a do-able project for anyone… so don’t be intimidated! Just some paint, tape, and a bit of patience. No artist skills necessary.
And the other sweet part is that it’s so budget-friendly. We already had the paint and tape on hand, but it wouldn’t cost more than $30 at the hardware store for the supplies (you would only need a quart of each color).
Get the Look:
Want More Nursery Ideas?
You can see how I created a black and white accent wall using decals.
Or out how we did my daughter’s mint and pink nursery. It’s all kinds of sweet and full of DIY project ideas.
So what do you think… have a mountain range mural in your future?! Have you guys been decorating any nurseries or kids rooms? Or have you painted any kind of mural before? I’d love to hear about it!
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Hey, I’m Gemma! The Sweetest Digs is here to help you create a stylish, simple and all-natural home you LOVE. Decor. DIY projects. Recipes. And all things handmade. Cool? We’re already BFFs.
