Create Sistine Chapel Ceiling Effects With New Ceiling Mural Stencils

The “5th Wall” element is the long forgotten ceilings of our homes.
Look up to a great decorating surface and incorporate your ceilings in to your decorating scheme to create an elegance you never dreamed of.
With coffered and recessed tray ceilings being offered in more and more newly built homes of today’s markets, the interest in ceiling decorating is booming with home owners now in search of new and interesting ways to dress up these wonderfully architectural areas and create interest and detail on plain ceilings.
Even the most drab room suddenly becomes one of grandeur with a ceiling mural. To have a professional create a ceiling mural for you would cost literally thousands of dollars, but the average home owner can now do it themselves with little expense and absolutely no experience.
Painting the ceiling a different color is one thing and yes, it does add interest, but take it a step further by using stencils to replicate the overhead murals of fine homes and mansions.
New “perspective correct” stencils have hit the market that allow the home owner to create mural elements such as trees, columns, balustrades and even hanging grapes that literally appear to be towering above you.
As easy to use as any other stencil design, these new stencils are fashioned to be used on the ceiling rather than the wall and consist of overlays that create authentic, “hand painted” appearing designs.
Overlays are simply parts of the design cut in to different stencils and very easy to use.
The stencils are numbered as to their order of use. The registration holes (found on all the overlays) of the #1 stencil are traced on to the ceiling or wall in erasable pencil. The first overlay is stenciled then removed. The registration holes of the #2 stencil are lined up with the pencil tracing which aligns the stencil perfectly. It is then stenciled and removed. This procedure is followed with any overlays required to complete the design.
Stencil adhesive sprays are inexpensive at your local craft store and allow the stencil to stick to the ceiling without the use of tape which makes it a breeze to stencil over your head.
I just finished a ceiling mural where I began by marking off a 15x8 foot rectangle in pencil on the ceiling. Of course, you can make yours any size you choose.
I then painted the inside of the rectangle in pale blue to mimic the sky.
I stenciled a ceiling mural balustrade stencil around the inside edges of the rectangle, repeating it partially around each side and opposite corners. I then stenciled a ceiling mural urn stencil on top of the balustrade which made it appear to be literally sitting on the rail cap of the balustrade.
I couldn’t believe how realistic the whole design seemed when I was finished. I will later be stenciling vines coming from the pot and winding down around the single balusters to finish the design.
It is not necessary to completely fill a ceiling with designs to get the effect of a mural. A single simple design such as the balustrade, urn or even a single tree can be repeated in ways that fill the space and create a unique mural.
For instance, use the balustrade to completely surround the ceiling or repeat it only 3-4 times to create a “spot” ceiling mural in one corner of the room.
As with any mural, more elements can be added at any time. Murals are typically an on-going process that is a labor of love done over time.
To find stencils for ceiling murals, simply search “Ceiling Mural Stencil” on any of the search engine for sites that offer these great new designs.
© Victoria Larsen 2007