Creating a colorful space that shines
Like so many people, I spent my Covid-19 time at home, redecorating.
After tackling the upstairs of our house, the basement became the space that continued to bother me.
Let’s rewind a bit here. The basement has been a bothersome space for years.
A dark, uninspired space when we bought our house in 2010, we filled it with leftover furniture. Since it’s a big, long room, it’s always been a challenge for it to feel functional.
It’s embarrassing how bad this looked in 2011. Could we add anymore brown to this room?! This is proof that you can grow your decorating skills + create a space you love over time.
We didn’t use the space much until we had kids + then it became our TV and playroom. Mostly the room had become a place to keep all the large toys that would otherwise be in the way upstairs. A coat of pale blue paint 6 years ago improved the space.
The room also serves as the entryway to my studio and the constant mess and hodge-podge of decorations bothered me every time I walked by.
I added more color with wall decor and textiles + worked to infuse our family personally into the room. But it still left me feeling uninspired as I walked into my studio.
I had to fight to keep a pathway into my space + I longed for something that sparked joy.
So I started cruising Pinterest and began to envision how our space could transform. I was inspired by this basement and quickly bought the same rug to add a punch of color to our basement.
I went back and forth between painting and wallpapering to add a pop of something on the back wall. Wallpaper felt fun yet intimidating and I was hesitant about painting the paneling, as I worried that the lines in the panels would be difficult to paint.
The work of Racheal Jackson, a colorful muralist, gave me confidence to paint anyway. After all, I’d already painted a mural for our first born and I’d been painting murals and backdrops for other people for years.
Excited about color, but unsure of what I would paint, I pulled swatches at Home Depot to create a palette that fit the rug and some existing decor.
I still had to decide WHAT to paint.
The problem with being my own client is that I can potentially paint anything, so it can take a long time to decide. Finally, I asked my oldest daughter, who was 5 year old at the time, what she wanted on the wall.
Josie requested a rainbow.
I painted a few test rainbows to get the color order right and finalize which shades I’d use in the final mural.
Then returned to Pinterest for ideas and insight into how to paint a giant rainbow. Several tutorials suggested using painter’s tape to create a guideline for the arches. No way! I thought.
I didn’t want to spend the time sticking tape to the wall. I just wanted to start painting.
Fortunately, I have a steady hand from years of practice. And I remembered a cool trick.
By pinning a string in one place, I created concentric arches with a pencil. The smooth wood paneling proved to be an asset for my pencil to glided over the wall.
I did end up drawing the whole thing out twice because I measured wrong, but a magic eraser was perfect to remove my first round of pencil marks.
How to create large arches:
Materials: painter’s tape, string, pencil, measuring tape, magic eraser.
Tie a long piece of string onto a pencil
Measure your center point
Measure the width of each band of color
Secure your string on your center mark with a piece of tape.
Starting with your smallest arch, pull your secured pencil and string straight up to your measured point.
With the string anchored, move the pencil all the way to the right and then then left to create you arch.
Repeat for each band of color
With my outline drawn out, it was time to paint. I put a drop cloth down over the rug and used 2 different angled edging brushes to do the painting.
While my kindergartner was at school, I had my toddler underfoot at home. I spent a week painting the rainbow. I did two coats of semi gloss paint, choosen to help reflect what little light the room had.
Did I mention that our basement is dark?
There are two small narrow windows at the other end of the room. In the 20 foot room, there are only two overhead lights and 1 outlet. A big goal of the mural was to create the illusion of light.
And I wanted to feel good when I walked into my studio.
The rainbow tied all the random toys together + invited a sense of play into the space. Mostly, I loved creating a truly unique space for our family to enjoy.
This mural continues to spark joy for all us… well maybe less so for my husband, but he’s in a house full of girls!
I’m wondering what to paint next…
Looking to connect to color + joy in your own home?
Hiya! I’m Lexis — the Denver artist + mama + color-loving doodler of Lexisworks. And the author of this blog.
For a decade, I have helped business owners, photographers + parents bring their space to life with one-of-a-kind murals.
From vinyl decals + painted windows for storefronts to murals + custom drawn backdrops, I’ve designed, painted + drawn murals for a variety of spaces.
