Courier News (Elgin, IL)
November 13, 2005

Crystal was happy for '700 Sundays'
Author: By Mike Danahey

Section: LIFE
Page: D3

Estimated printed pages: 3

Article Text:

Those who wilt at the sight of a plain white wall now have an alternative - and it's putting wallpaper to shame.

Custom murals and decorative finishes are spreading onto interior walls faster than the time it takes to get those white walls dirty.

"It's definitely growing," said Paul Brown, a painter with Elmhurst-based Chicago Murals and Custom Painting Inc. "Especially with the real estate and housing boom, people are putting a lot more of their incomes into their houses."

Some consumers choose grape-laden vines that climb the walls in the dining room. Others prefer faux marble finishes for the bathroom.

But one of the most common rooms for murals is children's rooms.

For one local family, having a mural painted in a young boy's room did more than spruce up the walls - it helped him through a tough transition.

A room of their own

Shortly after moving into a new house in West Dundee, Denise and Jerry Skrzypinski wanted to do something to make their son's room feel more like his own. The 4-year-old was having a tough time with the family's move, so his parents decided to have his room transformed into a hockey arena.

Soon, the boy stopped talking about how much he missed his old house.

"It completely helped with the move and taking ownership of the room," Denise Skrzypinski said.

South Elginite Tammy Peterson said she thinks the trend in decorative painting - at least in children's rooms - has to do with the fact that people are waiting until later in life to have kids. As a result, she said, parents have more money to spend on them.

"Things are different with families now," Peterson said. "People have a lot more income than they did when I was growing up."

Peterson got into decorative painting after she and her family moved into a model home that had a Jungle Book-themed mural in one of the bedrooms.

She and her husband hired painter Cindy Beauvais to extend that mural onto a second wall. They were so pleased with her work, they decided to have her paint in their daughter's room, as well.

It was a fun project for the kids to be a part of, Peterson said. Because they were involved in choosing the designs for their rooms, they have "a feeling of their own special place."

A part of pop culture

Beauvais, who specializes in nursery art, began painting murals when her friends started having babies. Now, more than 15 years later, she says, the decorative painting market has grown extremely competitive.

Although she paints a lot of the most popular patterns - clouds and jungle themes - she's found a way to stand out by painting unique designs, such as her trademark tie dyed wall designs for girls in their early teens.

Beauvais has her own thoughts on why the decorative painting industry is growing.

"I think that a lot of it also has to do with the popularity of shows like Trading Spaces and other home-improvement and home-decorating shows," she said.

In addition to the murals in their children's rooms, the Skrzypinskis have faux finishing in their laundry room and in a bathroom. But they did those rooms themselves.

Many home-improvement stores sell special rollers that allow amateur painters to create their own unique - and often abstract - wall designs.

"For the novice painter, the messier you are, the better," Skrzypinski said.

Unlike with wallpaper - the wall embellishment of the past - all the different paint colors and finishes add up to thousands of choices for patterns that can be done exactly as people want them.

"People are so sick of wallpaper," Skrzypinski said, adding that she's seen murals and faux finishes in houses all over West Dundee. "It seems like the whole neighborhood has some sort of decorative painting," she said.

Those who aren't feeling ambitious enough to do their own work will pay custom design prices. Beauvais, who charges by the day, said most of her projects take a day or two and cost from $350 to $800.

More and more people are deciding it's worth it. Skrzypinski said despite the expense, if her kids can get 10 years out of their murals, she'll consider it a good investment. Anyway, she said, once you add up the cost of paint and things to hang on walls, you wouldn't be spending that much less.

For those who want their investment to last even longer, some painters provide the option of painting murals on a canvas the size of the wall. That way, it can be kept even after the homeowner decides to change the scenery.