How to Turn Your First Home into a Decorator’s Showcase

If you’ve recently moved from a college dorm room to your first apartment, or from an apartment to a house, you’re probably still staring at blank walls. Why is that? Perhaps it’s because you haven’t taken the time to imagine the possibilities.
Your new living room is just screaming to be transformed into a place you can comfortably entertain; your den into a tropical oasis where you can escape the stresses of everyday life; and that extra bedroom into a place you can daydream.

“Now more than ever, our homes are becoming an extension of who we are, and a great way to express that is to decorate,” says Kelley Taylor of Creating Home Décor.com, a Web site for do-it-yourself decorators and craft enthusiasts. She advises people who don’t have a lot of experience decorating to start simple.

“Think about what you want to use the room for,” she says. “Then put up a mural that fits the theme. If you use a mural as a focal point, it’s easy to build everything from there.”

For people who like to entertain, for example, a look that’s popular right now is to give the living room or dining room an urban, modern feel. No need to paint, put up curtains or worry about patterns and textures; Taylor says this look can be achieved by putting up a wall mural of a cityscape, putting down some throw rugs, and buying modern furniture -- like pieces you’d find at Target, Urban Outfitters or Ikea.

A mural you may want to consider is Manhattan Lights from Environmental Graphics’ Classic Wall Mural collection. It features an image of the Brooklyn Bridge in the foreground with the pre September 11th New York skyline in the background. “People love New York and want to remember it as it was,” says Todd Imholte, president of Environmental Graphics. “Just think about what a great conversation piece this mural would make at your next party.”

Speaking of conversation pieces, who wouldn’t be impressed by a guest room or kid’s room done in the space theme with Environmental Graphics’ Earthrise mural as the centerpiece. The image is shot in such a way you actually feel like you’re on the moon looking out at the earth. Not only does a room with this mural make a great place to entertain, but to wish upon a star and daydream too.

“Using this mural as a centerpiece, it’s easy to build on the theme,” says Taylor. “You can set up a globe, put a telescope in the corner of the room, and twinkle lights or glow in the dark stickers on the ceiling. For bed sheets and pillows, pretty much any primary color scheme will do, but with this mural, blue would be particularly striking.”

While this room may be best suited for the kids and kids at heart in your household, adults can escape to the den, guest room, or sitting room for an adventure of their own: a “trip” to Hawaii. Sit back and relax on the futon or in a hammock with a martini as you enjoy an authentic Hawaiian sunset sprawled across the wall anytime of the day or night. You may have seen this wall mural before. It was featured on “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,” in the episode when Thom made George’s dream of finding a tropical oasis in the big city come true.

If none of these murals grab you, another option is to take advantage of Environmental Graphics’ latest offering. Murals Your Way has a library containing more than 1,000 images you can get printed in any size you want, with minimal dimensions of four feet by six feet. You can also use the service to transform your own prints, negatives, slides or digital images into a custom mural. “We’ve had people make murals of places they’ve been, good times spent with friends, pets, pretty much anything you can imagine,” says Imholte.

All Environmental Graphics murals come in eight easy-to-apply panels. For more information, log on to www.muralsyourway.com.

Manhattan Lights, Hawaiian Sunset and Earthrise are available in the standard size of 8 feet high by 13 feet wide through Urban Outfitters at www.urbanoutfitters.com or in custom sizes at www.muralsyourway.com.