So far, I have done murals on interior and exterior walls, signs and even a table – but this is my first mural on stairs!
My clients Jen and Mick have a finished basement, and they wanted to dress up the stairs to go along with the living spaces she has set up. Initially, Jen was looking at traditional carpet runners, but she wanted something more unique and dramatic and came up with the idea of doing a painted runner – which is when she contacted me!
Because Jen’s goal was to do something special, I worked with her to design a custom pattern. She sent me pictures to give me a sense of colors she might like, but otherwise left it up to me to create something she could never buy at a carpet store.
Jen is an artist herself and she lives in upstate New York, so I wanted to give her something that would appeal to her artistic side while also tying in the more rural setting of her area. I started with the idea of a silhouette of a leafless tree, and then played with the idea of mirroring it at the top and bottom so there would be symmetry whether you are going up or down the stairs. By connected the two mirrored trees at the top, it ended up creating great shapes that became the centerpiece of the runner. I sent Jen an initial concept with the trees and a border of leaves, and she had the idea of going with a darker background behind the trees and adding “old-timey” stars.
We ended up with the concept below and Jen was ready to have me come out to New York to do the painting. I have included a “before” picture as well as a few pictures of the project in progress so you can see how it all came together. I am thrilled to say that Jen and Mick love their new stairs!
Enjoy,
Jason
The concept sketch
The stairs before the project
The beginning of the process
In progress...
The final product!