roomplanners www.roomplanners.com

MARCH—APRIL 2013

7 tips on choosing & using

wall murals

paint the town! 10 top spots to see wall and street art!

art lovers

the

issue!

Bernhardt Furniture Showroom High Point, North Carolina

(Fall 2012)

All written information herein is copyright ©2013 Room Planners Incorporated. All rights reserved. No part of the material protected by this copyright may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means without written permission from Room Planners Incorporated.

Not getting our free issues?

SUBSCRIBE

NOW!

on the cover

A dramatic display of art and furniture came together at Bernhardt Furniture’s showroom during the Fall 2012 furniture market in High Point, North Carolina. See more photos on page 3.

… AT LARGE! Art

EDITOR Loreen Epp

Find us online at:

WEB SITE www.roomplanners.com

BLOG blog.roomplanners.com

FACEBOOK www.facebook/roomplanners

2 MARCH—APRIL 2013 www.roomplanners.com

… AT LARGE! Art

www.roomplanners.com MARCH—APRIL 2013 3

Ever heard the saying ‘go big or go home’?

Forget all that.

Now you can ‘go big at home’!

OVER-SIZED ART HAS NEVER BEEN MORE POPULAR… with street art taking on a life of its own in cities, and mural-sized prints of history’s most breathtaking paintings available at affordable prices.

Inside our homes, murals can create a masterpiece out of a simple room… focusing our eyes on a big idea and inspiring some rather compelling room color schemes.

Ever been told to

‘go big’ or ‘go

home’ ?

Now you can

go big ‘at’ home!

Now, just to be clear, we’re just not talking murals of the 1970s that simulated an outdoor scene or put a Tahitian beach scene outside your window. Thankfully, today’s mural suppliers offer more sophisticated choices… and they’ve never had so many looks (or sizes!) to choose from. With more artistic images, more digital capabilities and more affordable printing, fine quality mural designs—including prints of some of history’s most masterful paintings— are at your fingertips.

From enlarged prints by the likes of Vermeer, Rembrandt, Van Gogh and Monet... to graffiti-style street art, pop art, photography and exciting graphic patterns, there really is something for everyone today.

So forget heading to Sotheby’s to buy a famous canvas. And bid farewell to puny prints on your walls. Today you can bring home a big dose of color and art for less money, in most cases, than buying a framed piece of art from the furniture store.

Murals will add drama to your home! They’ll create a one-of-a-kind look and spruce up walls with as much impact as a new paint color… but without the commitment of wallpaper. And they promise to be memorable and conversation-worthy wherever they’re placed.

Ahead… some inspiration! We mixed sofas by Bernhardt, lamps from LampsPlus.com and murals from MuralsYourWay.com to reveal just a few ways you can go big in your own living room (or any room in the house)!

Art murals covered the walls of Bernhardt Furniture’s showroom at the 2012 fall Furniture Market in North Carolina. Hung next to elegant living room settings, over-sized Baroque- and Romantic-era art prints were used to add “touches of gold, punched-up graphics and happy energy color surprises”, said the company. It worked!

4 MARCH—APRIL 2013 www.roomplanners.com

Adding a big-scale mural to your room is a fun and

surprisingly affordable way to add art to your room.

But choose carefully. Murals don’t require the

same time or dollar outlay as paint or wallpaper, but picking the right image—

one that’ll stand the test of time and good taste—

is important!

‘going big’ 7 tips on

Very chic! An over-sized mural of Vermeer’s famous Girl with a Pearl Earring is paired with a handsome sofa and lamp that complement it. Click on each of the images for product info!

www.roomplanners.com MARCH—APRIL 2013 5

with art

1 Chose quality artwork!

Stick with prints of famous

artwork, words, graffiti or

patterns. Skip realistic

photos of places. Unless in black-and-white, they tend

to be a bit cheesy. The

exception to this rule is in

kids rooms. Anything goes here… and transforming

their world into some other

place can be fun.

2

3

Match the mood of your furniture and mural.

Modern themes or graffiti tend to work

best with contemporary furniture, while

copies of classic paintings tend to work

best with classic furniture.

If you want to be daring and blend the two, tie their colors together… and

create something in common: mix a

contemporary mural with a simple-

lined classic sofa… or a classic mural with a highly-detailed modern sofa.

Use simple, solid-colored furniture.

Patterned or busy-looking furniture will

compete with a mural… and the

furniture will lose that dual! Keep your

largest furniture clean-lined so it works with, rather than against, the mural’s

theme.

6 MARCH—APRIL 2013 www.roomplanners.com

Bernhardt

4

Hang the mural on your ’wow’ wall.

A big piece of art will be the focus

of your room, so place it behind

the largest piece of furniture in

the room, even if some of the furniture covers a small part of

the mural. Eliminate any artwork

nearby; it’ll look dwarfed by com-

parison!

Go big!

Choose a mural that’s fills a

good portion of the wall behind

your largest piece of furniture.

Don’t be afraid to run it from just below the furniture (be

sure the mural and furniture

overlap where they meet) to

18”-24” below the ceiling.

5

6

7Repeat the mural’s colors around the room.

In fact, let them guide the scheme!

Shared colors between the mural and

the furniture will unify and soften the

look. So will choosing a key color from the mural for your wall paint.

LIKE WHAT YOU SEE?

Click on any of the

pictures to get

more details about the product.

www.roomplanners.com MARCH—APRIL 2013 7

Divide up the mural for extra drama.

To add dimension, cut the mural into

three, four or six pieces, glue each piece

to black foam-core and hang the pieces an

inch apart on the wall.

From the cave paintings at Lascaux in Southern

France to the street art of Philadelphia, artfully

painted walls and ceilings are a testimony to our love of color, beauty and personal expression.

No matter when they were painted—or where they appear—large frescoes and murals tend to be

bring as much meaning as magnificence…

documenting our lives and stories, honoring our

fallen, making political statements, commenting on social issues, or just making us smile.

The list of must-see frescoes and murals around the world is endless. We picked some of our

favorites for their skill and beauty, along with a

brief look at how each came to be!

Famous street artist Eduardo Kobra dedicated his 2013 mural to Brazilian architect Oscar Neimeyer … using one the late architect’s own buildings as a canvas!

Pain ting the tow n ...

Our top 10 spots to find

wall and street art!

8 MARCH—APRIL 2013 www.roomplanners.com

sistine chapel VATICAN CITY, ITALY

the

www.roomplanners.com MARCH—APRIL 2013 9

It’s where the Roman Catholic

Church elects its new pope…

and all eyes were glued to this small 15th century chapel inside

Vatican City recently.

But the Sistine Chapel hosts

more than Roman Catholic

cardinals come pope election

time; it’s also boasts some of the best Italian Renaissance art.

Painted by Michelangelo, the

chapel’s ceiling offers views of

some of the most iconic art images in history – including the

artist’s The Creation of Adam

and The Last Judgment.

Intense restoration of the art

between 1980 and 1992

removed centuries of candle smoke and dirt, and the frescoes

can now be seen as vividly as

the day the famous artist

painted them.

villa madelena SAO PAULO, BRAZIL

Over-sized wall paintings were

common in Roman homes; part of

the architecture, in fact. The large number of wall paintings that

survive at Pompeii, just south of

Rome, owe to the eruption of

Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. The wealthy port town was buried – but

remarkably preserved - under

many feet of ash and pumice.

The city was discovered in 1748,

and today, over two-thirds of site

has been excavated. The amazing murals found there gave birth to

vibrant color names we know as

‘Pompeii’ reds, blues, greens,

yellows and blacks. Wall art in Pompeii is mythical and light-

hearted, offering detailed insight

into the life of a city at height of

Roman Empire.

POMPEII, ITALY houses of pompeii

Street art is big business in Sao Paulo;

a city credited with producing some of

the world’s most famous street artists. It all began in the 1980s, when local

artists began taking over Sao Paulo’s

urban spaces, eventually merging

politically-motivated art with graphic, sci-fi and humorous themes.

Today, much of Brazil’s street art centers around the bohemian

neighborhood of Villa Madelena. Every

inch of its famous Batman’s Alley is

covered with colorful murals!

10 MARCH—APRIL 2013 www.roomplanners.com

Who knew Belgium had birthed such an

international comic book heritage?

Home to the Smurfs, Tintin and a long and colorful tradition of comic strip

characters, it’s no wonder the country’s

capital has painted their town with

them!

If you visit, be sure to take in one of

Brussels' fine comic strip museums… and don’t miss the Comic Book Route;

a guided walk that takes you past a

slew of multi-storey buildings covered

with enormous paintings of Belgium’s favorite characters.

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM

The comic book route

www.roomplanners.com MARCH—APRIL 2013 11

wynwood walls MIAMI, FL

VALLEY OF THE KINGS, EGYPT

12 MARCH—APRIL 2013 www.roomplanners.com

How do you revitalize an urban

warehouse district filled with large

windowless buildings? Make it a canvas for the greatest street art

ever seen in one place.

At least that was the vision of Tony

Goldman, who, in 2009, conceived

of the idea in order to generate

more pedestrian traffic to Miami’s troubled Wynwood warehouse

area… and more respect for street

art. Murals by famous street artists

have covered Wynwood Walls ever since. In fact, they’re now over-

taking Wynwood Doors, too. The

area’s most recent project is seeing

artwork added to 176 feet of roll-up storefront doors!

egyptian tombs Turns out not every ancient Egyptian

pharaoh or king got a giant pyramid as

a tomb. After 3,000 BC, many of them found their final resting place in Egypt’s

Valley of the Kings. The area’s lime-

stone caves were thought to preserve

the mummies better, and in theory, to prevent robbing.

But over time, robbed (and excavated) they were. What remains, though, are

stunningly beautiful tomb paintings

depicting ancient Egypt’s culture… and

the lives of its pharaohs and kings.

Chances are you’ve never heard of

this place. Located on the isolated

island of Sardinia, Orgosolo is said to have a murales tradition as

passionate as its people.

The town’s unique street art graffiti

scene began in the late 1960s when

protest students used art to question

decades of social oppression and injustice. Over time, local artists

turned their themes to Italian history,

world affairs and scenes of everyday

Sardinian village life as a way to preserve its disappearing traditions.

Plan to visit the place? Locals say not to

worry about finding the murals; they’re

everywhere!

ORGOSLO, SARDINIA

Hardly a bashful town, San Francisco has

used street art to boldly share its history,

political and social views since the 1960s.

Today, more than 1,000 murals grace the place, with the largest concentration in

the Mission District. The area’s famous

alleys are a mecca for art fans due to

their colorful variety of works. Balmy Alley

is a block-long, open-air gallery used by artists to protest political and human

rights abuses in Central America… while

Clarion Alley fills its walls with an artful

blend of paintings by both well-established and up-and-coming artists.

mission district SAN FRANCISCO, CA

www.roomplanners.com MARCH—APRIL 2013 13

orgoslo village

BERLIN, GERMANY

Irish homes NORTHERN IRELAND

14 MARCH—APRIL 2013 www.roomplanners.com

One of the world’s longest—and longest-

surviving—open-air galleries doubles as

a memorial to freedom. The canvas? A surviving portion of the Berlin Wall

erected by communist East Germany in

1961 to keep folks from migrating West.

In 1990, a year after the infamous

came down, a surviving section - over

4,000 feet (1.3 km) long - near the center of Berlin, came to life with over

one hundred wall paintings by

famous artists from around the world.

Named the East Side Gallery, the lively paintings express the euphoria of the

time, and hopes for a free future for all.

east side gallery

If walls could talk, the walls of

Belfast and Northern Ireland

would have a lot to say. The area’s world-famous murals are

a daily reminder of the turbulent

history and culture of the

country… memorializing the Great Irish Famine of the mid

1800′s, the sinking of the

Titanic, “The Troubles” that

lasted from the late 1960′s until 1998, local sporting heroes and

more.

Approximately 2,000 murals are

found throughout Northern

Ireland; many painted on the

gable ends of simple houses.