Why limit the beautiful views to outside?
One of the main reasons we fell in love with Montrose was because of the incredible view you get of the San Juan Mountain Range. Almost all of the guests that we have had come visit us have commented on what a beautiful view we have of the mountains. While we are so thankful for this view, the way the main building is designed, there is no view of the mountains from inside the building. So what did we decide to do? Bring the mountains inside the building!
For several months we have debated what we want the interior design of the coworking space to look like. While we went back and forth with different decor ideas, we realized we had different ideas of how the space should be decorated. Luckily, we did agree that the space needed more color and wanted it to have a ‘Colorado touch’ to it.
We stood in the middle of the room analyzing each wall and trying to visualize what type of artwork we wanted in the space. The walls are large and white, so there is a lot of space to work with, but we didn’t want to clutter it with a bunch of smaller images or designs. It wasn’t long before we came up with a plan and decided that the giant back wall, one of the first things you see when you walk into the space, would make the perfect canvas for a mural.
Once the decision was made that a mural would fill the wall, it was time to find an artist. We spent time perusing Instagram for local muralists, but we couldn’t find anyone whose designs fit what we were envisioning. So, we turned to Pinterest for ideas. As for the artist…well it was time for me to put my painting skills to the test!
To be sure the mural would at least remotely look like it was completed by someone who knew what they were doing, I used a projector to project a simple mountain scene onto the wall. Although it was not a super detailed image, it gave me enough detail to work with to trace a rough sketch of the mountain landscape.
Once the design was sketched onto the wall it was time to pick out the paint. Using a color snap app through the Sherwin-Williams store, we were able to select hues of blue from the image and get all nine colors that we would need to complete the painting.
Overall, the process was pretty smooth, but we were a little disappointed when getting our paint from Home Depot. We wanted to get the scuff guard paint, at least for the bottom section where people or furniture would be rubbing against the wall, but the guy at the paint counter messed up and put it in the two top layers of paint instead. Oh, and of course, that was the last of the scuff guard, which meant there wasn’t any left that could be added to the rest of our cans – slightly disappointing, so if you come to visit, don’t run into our wall too aggressively 😅
The entire process took me about two full days, as I started from the top and waited for each layer to dry before starting on the next one to be sure the paint colors wouldn’t blend together.
When it was finally complete, I was pleasantly surprised with the result! I was unsure about how the trees would turn out when I initially roughly sketched them out, but it all came together nicely! We wanted something simple, but still clean-looking and I think this mural fits those requests perfectly! If you are debating if you want to paint your own mural at home or work, this is your sign to give it a try! If I can do it, trust me, you can too!
We purchased a pint of each color and have plenty left over, so who knows, maybe I’ll just have to paint another one!
