Preparing Your Interior Wall for a Mural

The essential first step to a beautiful new mural is getting the walls ready! As with all decor/DIY/preservation projects, take a second to make sure you've got a plan before painting a mural of your own OR bringing in a professional mural painter. Some muralists will take care of these prep steps for you, but this is uncommon so make sure you understand what they do and do not provide in their services.

Measure

The significance of measuring your wall in question can't be stressed enough, whether you’re working with a small or large area. Knowing the dimension of your space will help you make choices down the road, like how much paint and primer you’ll need.

What kind of walls work best

Having textured walls may cause trouble when you get to painting because it can take 3-4 times as long to fill all of the little grooves and crevices. Wall textures with a mild orange peel or smoother texture are typically suited for a mural. Assessing your wall surface is vital for saving time since mural painting takes stamina!

Drywall and Paint Texture

Again, light orange peel texture or smoother is best for a mural. If you've got different texture styles (comb, thick spackle or popcorn) you’ll want to remove the texture or forego painting that wall altogether. NOTE: If you've got popcorn texture and your structure was built earlier than the 1980s, the popcorn possibly includes asbestos. If your popcorn texture was applied before 1989, or you’re unsure of the date, you may want to get it tested.

Below I’ll explain how to deal with textured walls. If your wall is nice, smooth, and painted or primed, simply clean with soapy water and let dry. If you have glossy paint, give a light sanding over the entire mural area. Otherwise flatter sheen walls are ready to paint directly on. If your wall is new drywall construction, make sure you apply latex or water based primer over the drywall.

Removing Texture: Scrape and Sand

If you MUST work on a textured wall, the scrape and sand method works to remove high relief texture on unpainted drywall or plaster. If your texture has been painted, you’ll need to apply a coat of drywall putty to smooth over it.

In short, cover flooring and furnishings with a canvas cloth. Then spray the walls with water, allowing a 15-minute soak. 

At this point, grab a scraper, a bucket, and get to scraping! Hold the scraper at a 30-degree angle so you do not puncture the drywall. If it starts to feel too hard to scrape off, stop and spray again. 

Once you have removed the texture, you can sand down the wall. Be sure to wear a mask!

Covering Painted Texture: Skim Coat

If the paint on your high relief textured walls is very glossy, you’ll want to gently sand down the wall using sandpaper. Once finished, wipe it down with a damp towel.

Next you’ll need drywall putty or joint compound. Working in small areas so the joint compound doesn’t dry too quickly, apply the mixture to the wall using a putty knife. Make sure that the area is flat before moving on to the next section.

Let the wall dry for 48 hours. If the wall is still too textured, add a second layer.

Once dry, the final step is to apply water-based latex primer to your wall for mural application. Painting directly on the drywall is very absorbent and will require lots more mural paint.

Once you get the wall prepped, the art can happen!