Murals Transform Bland Spaces in a School

Murals are a segment of my business that I truly enjoy creating.  While their popularity in residential spaces comes and goes like wallpaper, they're always the right fit for challenging spaces in kid oriented commercial and residential space.  I recently completed several new murals for a day school.  The bland off white walls lent little to the imagination and were cluttered with stapled and taped outdated posters, art for the sake of taking up space and store bought pictures which lent nothing to the space.

To date, I've painted five murals within the school.  I've varied each in style, composition and theme.  Hopefully they look executed by different artists, as I want the variety to be that akin to children's books.  No two are the same.

Here are three of the five murals.  I finally got around to taking photos with a real camera instead of the cell phone pictures that are oh so convenient.  I'll post the other two soon.

If you're curious, from my observations, murals are becoming popular in kids rooms once again.  Everyone has tried everything possible with decals, vinyl letters, chevron stripes and posters and the boredom is creating a resurgence in mural popularity.  So break out your paints, its time to lead the trend and not follow!

In the children's storytime stair area I created this magical forest with larger than life flora and fauna.  I rendered this mural in an animation cell style.  I wanted it to look like they're sitting within an animated movie.

To soften the hard inside corner I bridged it with a hand painted cutout of
a luna moth.  The frog is the first thing you see as you come down the hallway.  The kids love him.  He's about 2.5 feet tall.

The indoor play structure area was converted into a farm theme.  The maple wooden needed to be somewhat camouflaged.  I thought it would blend nicely with hay bales.  The owner's office door has been converted into a swinging barn door.

A faux tree trunk was added to the play structure to allow for the painting of a tree canopy on the mural sky.  Sadly, you can't see it in this picture.

In a second staired area, where the students watch videos and share, a storybook style forest was created.  Its soft calming colors lends itself to the low light room.

I sculpted a reliefed beehive, with bees to add a bit of whimsy to the space. 

Kid's Room Trends- closing out 2012 and welcoming 2013

  In her latest post, up on SheKnows.com contributor Susie Fougerousse, kid biz mommy of five taps a few industry experts to get their opinions on the trends closing out 2012.  Embellishments Kids owner, designer and kids art go-to-guy, Aaron Christensen shares his picks for the year end.

 An upcoming feature, here on the Embellishments Kids blog will explore Aaron's trend finds and elaborate on the SheKnows article.

What's old is new and what's new is hot!

What's old is new and what's new (meaning old) is hot, not that new (as new) is not, uhm.....we'll something like that....

Meaning, there's been a resurgence in interest of all things old, especially those of an industrial and pre-industrial era to expand back further than the recent revisit to mid-century. When companies like CB2, Restoration Hardware and Anthropology are looking backwards for design ideas and even offering vintage one of a kinds, that's something to take note of. Have you seen the recent Pottery Barn catalogs and in-store offerings? They're taking us back, way back to pre-industrial era with rustic pottery and rough hewn pieces.

Pottery Barn offering vintage cameras

Restoration Hardware's factory cart table

Restoration Hardware's Aviation inspired aluminum side table

Obviously, as an artist who enjoys vintage inspiration in his modernized pieces, I'm excited to see the trend grow.

In the realm of children's room design, I've always been a bit of a retro kinda guy. I like to procure vintage pieces or have reproductions and one of a kinds made by through my studio, to incorporate into our room designs. A vintage piece adds character and provides a sense of longevity or timelessness to the room.

Instead of a slick ultra bright race car, this client chose for us to create a

room with a sense of heritage and time worn charm. Our custom twin sized truck bed, although new, looked like it had been parked for 50 years.

My Speedway Art is available as reproductions and prints

Our Speed Demon room featured vintage objects combined with "new" creations we made

in the studio. I used my art as a visual replacement of a headboard.

The Max Transit wall art collection

http://www.embellishmentsstudio.com/store/c77/TRANSPORTATION_%26_RACING.html

Max Transit Art Collection is available as individual reproductions in many sizes and as a full collage containing all nine.

My latest art release entitled "Max Transit" does a bit of a switch a roo. Instead of reaching the vintage stage via texture I chose to go for a more graphic approach. With its gears, maps and instruments it has an industrial feel but done in a modern way. These pieces can bridge the gap between the slick modern furniture you see in stores today and yet allow the homeowner to bring in a vintage look.

Here, I've provided you with 3 vignettes showing how my work could be incorporated into a boy's transportation room that utilizes vintage industrial looks combined with a modern aesthetic. I'm quite fond of raw, unpainted metals like aluminum, galvanized, chrome and zinc plating. If you stick to the white metals you can mix and match freely. If you prefer the golden metals you can tone them down by using brown waxed shoe polish as you would a traditional wax polish. Be sure to let the piece dry before handling.

Option A utilizes one of a kind pieces, products from higher end retailers 1stDibs, Rejuvenation Lighting, Serena and Lily, Room and Board and a few off the shelf items.

Option B draws it's vocabulary of items from traditional retail environments like Rosenberry Rooms, Land of Nod, Lowes, Urban Outfitters and Caden Lane with some one of a kinds.

Option C incorporates similar looks for less with help from Target, Toys R us and Ikea.

The Max Transit collection is part of my spring introduction and is available through fine retailers and independent boutiques. Email me if you need assistance with finding a retailer or if you are interested in purchasing them directly from Embellishments.

Also available in a personalized growth chart.

Great resource for vintage industrial are Ebay, Etsy, 1stDibs.com, Dog dish lights, Rejuvenation and even Craigslist. Here in Portland, I love to browse a material handling company store. They often pass on used equipment such as carts, dollies, work benches and more. If you have a great site to pass on please leave it in the comments for others to browse.

Enjoy!