If you don’t want the bother of an aquarium, you can still create that tranquil feel by painting an underwater mural. Murals that evoke the peacefulness of the ocean or river bed can be highly effective in bedrooms, living rooms, beach-side homes and children’s rooms. For a bathroom or pool area, an underwater theme can be especially appropriate. Try these tips and ideas to get your creative juices flowing.

Inspiring Ideas

You can create underwater murals in a whole range of styles, using peaceful pastels or bright tropical colors. Murals for children’s rooms can successfully use cartoon-style images. Adult rooms might invite a more subtle treatment. In kids’ murals you can add touches like pirates’ treasure chests, shipwrecks, mermaids and sea monsters. A bit of visual humor can also be effective in bathroom murals or swimming pool areas.

In a living area the tranquil look that an aquarium creates can be simulated in paint. Tropical fish in bright colors, swimming through gently waving underwater grasses, can look exotic as well as peaceful. If fish aren’t your thing, there are other options. A sea or riverbed strewn with delicate, pastel seashells can make for a subtle underwater scene that will go well in a variety of rooms. Remember too that your underwater mural doesn’t have to be blue. Soft greens and even shades of brown can also create a relaxing ambiance.

For a bit of fun, you could experiment with trompe l’oeil painting. In a kid’s room you could paint portholes which afford glimpses of a magical underwater realm. The room itself then ‘becomes’ a ship or submarine, which may appeal especially to boys. Little girls might like trompe l’oeil windows that give the impression of looking on to a sandy sea floor where mermaids frolic.

Creating Your Mural

Especially if you’re not a confident artist, using stencils, or kits that allow you to transfer image outlines onto your wall, is the perfect way to create murals. You will find a huge range of motifs and a wide variety of styles available and you’re bound to find something to suit you.

If you have a picture or photograph that you want to reproduce as a mural, you can do that instead. You can scale it up by marking your image and your wall into corresponding squares, before transferring the outlines square by square – or take advantage of computer software that can do the job for you.

Start your painting by covering your space with the background color, using a sponge, brush or for big areas, a roller. You may have two background areas, such as the seabed and the water above it, in different colors that meet at a ‘horizon’. Then you will outline your fish, rocks and other images, before finishing off with shading, texture and fine detail.

For murals in some areas you’ll need to take special measures, such as waterproof paint for bathroom murals and fade-resistant paint for sunny outdoor areas. To protect your handiwork a transparent sealer completes the job.