commercial mural

PROJECT STORY
children’s home murals

March-june 2024
My clients are experienced owners of children’s home in the North West. They had purchased a beautiful new site to convert to a home in 2023 and were in the final phases of this very large project. They know how inportant the environment is in this sitation and had employed the services of a mural artist to add colour and life to the building. Sadly, the artist in question left without warning having only completed two rooms and my client approached me to help them, especailly as they had an OFSTED inspection looming. Thankfully, I was able to offer them enough time initially to get the main areas done before the inspection and I have returned subsequently to paint the remaining rooms.

The thinking behind the project to make it feel like home, a fun place to be. My client wanted it child friendly, but not childish. Children are coming here when they feel most vulnerable, and we wanted to create a warm, welcoming, fun feeling. The main corridor is large and ranges from very dark at one end to very light at the other. It is full of very straight lines and was not at all welcoming. I used spring colours, pinks, yellows, greens and blues and created large, organic shapes that fold around the many corners, helping to soften the overall feel. Although there is a sofa and TV, this is generally not an area for relaxing and so we were able to make it more fun and vibrant.

Childrens home corridor murals
Childrens home corridor murals
Children's home organic themed mural
Children's home sitting room mural
The stairwell was quite an awkward space and we didn’t want the expense of hiring access, so I have been keen to introduce a rainbow in the home, everyone loves a rainbow, and decided to create a rainbow ribbon curling and swirling down the stairs. One of the staff members particularly likes this area and told me that children can spend quite a lot of time in stairwells. This mural made it feel calming and freeing.

Lastly, the upstairs corridor, where the bedrooms are, we wanted to keep softer and calmer. The same large scale organic shapes are used, but are more literal, so that the brain is not trying to work the pattern out.

Leading off this corridor are two sitting rooms, where a much more relaxing feel was desired. Here I used the colours from the furniture in similar, but less forceful organic shapes than the corridor. This creates a flow from one space to another, but still allows each room to have it’s own personality. When multiple individuals are sharing a space, creating different looks and feels, ensures that everyone finds something that works for them.

The dining room is again, a more transitionary space and the introduction of reds, helps to encourage eating. 

Children's room small sitting room mural
Children's home dining room mural
Children's home stairwell mural
Flower mural in a children's home
This project has been fun and demanding in equal measures. You can not underestimate the importance of decoration in this kind of environment and it brought all my interior design skills into play. The result though, is undeniably successful. The client is delighted and the staff love it. Even OFSTED are happy. “All the rooms are perfect.” said owner Andrea Brighouse. “The service has been great, cost effective and efficient.”

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