Safari Mural for Little Boy’s Room

When it comes to painting murals, I like nothing better than repeat business for the same client. They know me, I know them and it’s just . . . comfortable.

I have an appointment tomorrow with a repeat client, but this is extra-special. I painted their almost-4-year-old’s nursery before he was born. Now we’re planning his baby sister’s nursery! I am over-the-moon excited.

Since I don’t have details yet on Baby Sister, we can revisit Big Brother’s room. Wanna join me on a little safari?

The room’s walls are 18’ long and 11’ tall. Every square inch was painted. Every.Square.Inch.

Even the closet doors.

I’ll show you those in a minute. There’s a lot to see – A LOT! - so I’ll show you the major focal points first and then all the little details that were so totally fun to add.

Remember the game I Spy?

That’s what I wanted to create for this little baby boy – his own private safari jungle, full of animals, insects, frogs, and even dolphins!

Let’s start with the elephant and giraffe wall. . .

I painted nearly all the animals in the room to be either a mama and baby (or daddy!) or families.

See how the elephant’s spray is shiny? I used a glitter medium so it glows.

I spy 3 little froggies. Can you find them? {they’re on the rocks}

To the right of the elephants are Mama & Baby Giraffe. But nestled under a pair of trees are some zebras too.

They’re under 3 inches long!

Ha! I didn’t have to worry about getting their faces perfect though!

On the wall next to the giraffes is the cheetah family and those damn lovely louvered closet doors.

LOUVERED closet doors. Each and every little louver had to be primed (thanks Hubs!) and then meticulously painted to blend into the overall mural. They’re on my Never-Paint-Again list – right up there with kitchen cabinets.

Perched on a branch in the tree are blue hyacinth parrots. These guys were the brightest thing in the room. Everything else was painted in very muted tones which worked for a newborn and still work for a 4 year old boy.

Under the branch is a hippo family. They guys are uber tiny – less than two inches.

Next to the tree sits this cheetah family. Can you see the baby peeking over cheetah’s shoulder?

Okay, so I don’t know why there are 3 adult cats and one baby. The client wanted something for this space and I was fresh outta jungle animals at that point. I told him to ‘google’ something and bring me the pic. It just happened to be 3 adult cheetahs and one baby, so I went with it.

Moving around the room we get to the waterfall and sea. There are two dolphins and a whale tail up at the top. Even a replica of the clients’ ski boat. But the real star is the jet plane.

Guess what the little boy’s name is?

The jet stream was the very last thing I painted in the room because they were torn between two names. Now that’s he’s four, I can’t imagine any other name for him.

Plus, the jet plane just worked out perfectly!

The last wall has a few families . . .

. . . gorillas,

. . . lions,

. . . and teenie-weenie elephants.

And, of course, no safari mural is complete without a jeep, right?

So that’s what a nursery with murals on all four walls looks like. But I think we’re gonna restrain ourselves for Baby Sister.

Oh, but c’mon . . . a baby GIRL?!? Weren’t murals created for baby girls?

They weren’t?

Oh.

Well, they coulda been.

Whatever we come up with, I know it’ll be special. I’ll let you know. And thanks for joining me on the ‘safari’ today!