My 2020 Pandemic Project!
It’s a Small World After All
Last year when things got very stressful working from home with kids during the global pandemic, I’d walk away from my computer, take a deep breath, pick up a paint brush and outline a triangle or fill in a circle. Gentle brush strokes of pastel-colored paint over different shapes on the wall kept me sane, even if the rest of the house was turned upside down.
It’s January 2021, and my It’s a Small World family room wall mural is complete. My pandemic project, as I’ve labeled it— actually gave me purpose. It gave me something to look forward to. It also served as a mindfulness exercise when all else seemed chaotic. For this reason, I am very proud of my accomplishment. The mural represents more than just a fun living room wall to commemorate the glittery, musical Disneyland boat ride. It represents resiliency and peace in times when things felt heavy and dark.
My attempt to replicate the façade of Disney’s popular attraction also turned into a family project. Even though I did most of the work, there were times when I allowed the boys to help me peel off the painter’s tape from a finished tower or paint a small section.
I’ll be honest, this was not an easy project since there are so many elements involved: shapes, lines, various paint colors, glitter, clocks, etc. However, my motto was:
It doesn’t matter how slowly you go, as long as you don’t stop!
Now that my mural is done, I will probably ignore all life lessons on being humble and show off this project at every opportunity. LOL. I mean, I’m probably gonna overdo it—photo shoots with the boys, tea parties at home with the mural as the backdrop, official selfie wall, etc. LOL . All jokes aside, my mural sparks joy and it got me through a crazy year so yeah, I’m probably NOT going to let it stand unappreciated.
In case you’re interested in creating something similar at home, I’ll share my tips and tricks. I don’t have a good set of instructions though. This project was really done at random times of the day (and night) during a span of nine months and I didn’t always take pictures of the progress. I also didn’t follow any rules. I basically improvised and did what seemed like a good idea based on the outline. So here it goes:
I used Behr Ultra Matte Paint. These are the sample size containers (8 oz.) which rendered the perfect amount of paint.
Supplies:
Plenty of Paint. I used 8 oz. containers of Behr paint, Painter’s tape, pencils, erasers, a big sturdy level, a long ruler, small & medium sized brushes, construction paper, cardstock paper, project board paper, scissors, glitter paper and a bunch of household items like bowls, vases, pots and coffee mugs to outline your shapes and designs. Finally, you’ll need the famous It’s a Small World clock! I could have tried painting it myself and probably scaled it to best fit the area but I purchased it and now I have an actual working clock in my family room! I bought this one from Ye Olde Proppe Shoppe on Etsy.
Instructions:
The first thing to do is create a vision! I downloaded and printed a simplified outline of the It’s a Small World façade. After doing this, I used colored pencils to come up with a color scheme for my wall. But then, I found another rendering that had the most gorgeous pastel colors and fell in love. I used this It’s a Small World graphic as my guide to figure out which paint colors to match on the Behr website.
2. Using the colored design, I measured my family room wall and decided I would create nine towers, although the design calls for eleven. I came to such a decision based on the size of my wall. Fewer towers would allow sufficient width to incorporate details located within each section without feeling like the space was too tight.
3. Once I decided on the number of towers I would paint, the real work began. Each tower should be approximately the same width, with the exception of the middle tower which was basically doubled up since that’s where the double doors and the clock are located. After drawing each tower section, I started outlining the rest of the elements (triangular details, circles, domes, flags, vases, doors, etc.) based on the design printout. For this part, I used whatever was handy— pot lids, small vases, triangular toys I found in the boys’ closet (Hint: you can also use a projector and make your life easier but I chose the complicated way which gave me more work but kept the creativity flowing).
4. Once my lines and shapes were done, it was time to tape things up! I used a lot of tape, but I was very conservative with it and frequently reused the strips. I ended up using only one roll. Once I painted each section and the wall was completely done, I had the option to either a) leave things simple and symmetrical or b) add glittery embellishments to make my work of art literally shine. Can you guess what I chose to do?
5. Using a photo of the front of the attraction as a guide, I basically sketched the numbers and clock mechanisms, freehand. I then traced my designs onto glitter paper and carefully cut each piece, applying it to its corresponding tower (I used double sided hanging tape). Note: I only added embellishments to the two sections on either side of the main clock tower.
And that’s basically how I did it. I took my time, worked calmly and finally finished.
I hope my little project inspires you to do something fun and creative at your house, especially during times of Coronavirus when we’re being encouraged to stay home.
It’s easy to sit and stare at a cell phone screen for hours. But why do that when you can put your artistic abilities to the test?
Thanks for reading, friends and remember, in the lyrics composed by brothers Richard and Robert Sherman for the famous Disney attraction:
“There is just one moon and one golden sun and a smile means friendship to everyone. Though the mountains divide and the oceans are wide, it’s a small world after all.”
Xo,
Anabel M.