July 8, 2009
I’m really really proud of the Dr. Seuss mural that we painted for the nursery. My brother (Matt) and I worked together on the concept and the painting and the outlining of the Dr. Seuss characters for what seemed like countless hours, days, weeks, etc. I really want to thank him for all of his help – his work on the mural will truly be a major gift to London that will be around for a while. Everyone who sees it just loves it!
I emphasize, again, that this was no easy task. As you’ll be able to tell, we had to take this process step by step. First, of course, was just the base/background color of blue. Then we did a chalk outline of all of the characters on the blue paint.
The third step is to start filling in the colored sections, one color at a time. This was an uneasy step, because you could kind of see the character start to form, but they were still just an undefined blob of color for the most part.
And the fourth step was the most time intensive, but the most gratifying. We added all of the black outline that you see in the photos. Some of the characters, like the Cat in the Hat, have a lot of black to them. But once that black outline goes down, the character suddenly became alive! We used a black ink, rather than a black paint or a black Sharpie marker. It’s a little high-gloss at times, as you may spot in a couple of the photos (in fact, you’ll notice most photos are taken from a slight side angle, or else there was a glare on the black ink), but it looked so great. You’ll notice that we have the following characters: The Cat in the Hat, Thing 1 and Thing 2 (from the Cat in the Hat), Horton (Horton Hears a Who), Sam (Green Eggs and Ham), Balloon boy (Oh, The Places You’ll Go!), The Sneetches, and “One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish.”
I’ve included photos from each of our stages of creating this mural (when I remembered to grab the camera), so you can really see the transformation. The experience of creating this mural with my brother is one that I’ll remember and cherish for years to come. It turned out SO good. It feels like you’re standing in a children’s storybook. I hope you all get an opportunity to come see it in person some time.
It looks awesome!!! That must have taken forever, but your little guy will be able to enjoy for years to come. Great job!
By: Kelli Hillerud on July 12, 2009
at 8:58 pm
Is this a good time to point out that the word “Nerd” was coined by Dr. Suess in the book “If I Ran the Zoo?”
Looks rad dude!
-M
By: Wolfy on July 13, 2009
at 2:04 pm
You know, I tweeted that once! See, you’re learning from my tweets after all! Ha : )
Glad you like it. We’re really proud of how it turned out.
By: Mike McDowell on July 13, 2009
at 2:17 pm
AWESOME! really well done! Pretty sure your brother did all the work though, but I will give you credit for the projector idea… I bet that was you.
Rob
By: Rob Gaedtke on July 13, 2009
at 2:43 pm
Frickin’ Phenomenal. I wish I could have done something like this for Ainsleigh. My wife ended up painting our nursery because I was chained to grad school homework at the time. The end of my first year of grad school.
Good work and you should be a professional mural painter on the side.
By: Will Hull on July 16, 2009
at 8:01 am
Are you guys using the Dr. Suess bedding from PBKids? When I saw that I always figured Will would want to do a little boys room like this. You did a fantastic job, I am very impressed. And yes I painted our daughter’s room (while 7 months pregnant), its pink & green.
If we have a boy next time around, Will is in charge of the room.
By: Christine Hull on July 19, 2009
at 12:30 pm
We hadn’t planned on using any of the Pottery Barn stuff. My step-mom is making a bunch of the bedding! We did see some of the Pottery Barn stuff and it looks super cool, too.
By: Mike McDowell on July 19, 2009
at 10:58 pm
I just have to say that of ALL the Seuss rooms I’ve seen this is the most impressive… Right on guys! I’m sure your kiddos will love it…. Good luck!
By: Brenda Ford on September 2, 2009
at 5:14 pm
Thanks! We put a lot of work into it and are really proud : )
By: Mike McDowell on September 2, 2009
at 8:03 pm
Im currently working on a Dr. Seuess theme myself, where did you find the mural stencils?
thanks!
By: Sandra H on November 6, 2009
at 10:17 pm
Sandra – we didn’t use stencils. We used the images form the book, then we drew the outlines on the wall with chalk, then started painting in the colors, then we outlined everything with ink. : )
By: Mike McDowell on November 7, 2009
at 5:30 pm