Custom Wallpaper Imagery: Random Photos

From all of the multitudes of photographs you've captured on your digital camera, we know there is a photo there that would make a great custom wallpaper installation. We love using elements from photos, or a macro shot of a detail, that you typically wouldn't expect to find as the focus of a wall mural. These images often create abstract, original murals that are available to a very limited few, namely you.

For instance, the image above is a shot of a chandelier. The chandelier is backlit with blue, which varies with shades of purple and green, giving the mural a peacock color scheme. The glistening facets give this custom wall mural a shiny look, reminiscent of the bling custom wallpaper entry we wrote about previously.

A custom wallpaper installation featuring your photo is easy to order, and can be delivered to your door within 10 business days or sooner. We encourage you to revisit your old images and see if there is something there that surprises you. Random images make great murals and conversation pieces, so set your imagination free!

Custom Wallpaper And Beyond: Custom Décor

The installation image we're featuring today doesn't focus so much on custom wallpaper or giclee, our usual custom interior décor products. Instead, we're intending to highlight the freedom and flexibility offered to you with custom printed interior décor.

The giclee art piece in the inspiration room belongs to our office manager. She was trying to find a piece of artwork to match a specific fabric. After looking for years, she realized that the best solution was to use the actual fabric to create an art piece as opposed to buying a pre-made piece of art to coordinate with her existing décor. In this regard, she circumvented any concerns of the art piece meshing well with the room since she was able to use her inspiration material as the art piece itself.

This is one of the most exciting aspects of our business for a lot of our clients; they've had these pieces that have inspired them for years, and they want to use them in their homes, they just didn't realize they could be used for custom interior décor products. The same fabric piece we used to create the giclee could have just as easily been used to create a wall mural, or tiled up for an original custom wallpaper pattern. Inspirations can range from photos to artwork, poetry and prose, or simply trying to bring an environmental representation of a memory or favorite location to your current space. As we often say, the sky is the limit when it comes to our custom interior décor services, and we invite you to set your imagination free to create the custom décor project you've always dreamed about.

Custom Wallpaper Project: Vamp Custom Wallpaper

If you read our previous post about Gothic inspired wallpaper, you know we don't shy away from the dramatic. In keeping with that theme, we offer our vamp inspired custom wallpaper. Vamp can mean different things to different people, with connotations to vampirism, vintage pin-up girls, and back around to goth. One perception of vamp that all agree on is that a woman with vamp style is dark, gorgeous, and gets what she wants.

Our custom wallpaper design is the prefect interplay of vamp and film noir. Darkness edges the image of an angel from a Gothic church, which gives the wall mural a smoky, mysterious look. The juxtaposition of our vamp model and the innocent angel is a fun way to keep the wallpaper's theme from getting too dark.

The custom wall mural may be tinted for a more emotional response. A red tint over the wallpaper image would have a much more intense presence, while a blue tone would give the mural more of a reserved cool. As vamp style can be interpreted in numerous ways, so can a custom wallpaper's imagery be derived by numerous sources and inspirations. Whatever wall mural image you choose, it will be surely be a perfect addition to a room with a vamp aesthetic.

Custom Wallpaper Design: Using Fonts and Text

Oftentimes in our entries about custom wallpaper we're discussing photographic imagery to be used as a wall mural, and the affect that the image will have on the wall mural's viewers. Consider taking a completely different direction and commission a wall mural that features text and font as art forms.

American artist Edward Ruscha is well known for his work that utilizes text and font to give his unique commentary on American culture. By either creating his own stylized fonts or intermingling text with background imagery, Ruscha's work has been starting conversations about graphic design as an art form, and drawing parallels to Pop Art for decades.

The custom wallpaper installation we're featuring in the inspiration room is comprised of a printer's block letters, haphazardly arranged . Real wood texture and depth give the wall mural an original look, and the stacks of numbers and letters, some in reverse, speaks to the complexity of human language and meaning, and font and text as tools to express that complexity. If you want to take a more literal approach to a font mural, your own prose or poetry would make a truly unique custom wallpaper installation. Or, use your own imagery along with text to pay homage to Ruscha's work.

Custom Wallpaper Project: Use Your Own Original Artwork

For those of us without a strong creative streak, a custom wallpaper installation can bestow a bit of creativity to your everyday life. But for those of us that are artistically inclined, our custom wallpaper printing service is a brand new avenue to display your work. If you've been working on canvases that are more traditionally sized at 2' x 3' or 4' x 6' or the like, you'll love the extreme size that a custom wall mural will show your work at.

Whether you're working with oils, pastels or watercolors, any medium that may be scanned can be transformed into a custom wall mural. Once your artwork is digitally scanned by either yourself or us, we then scale your original artwork to the full size of your wall, and print it in panels. The end result is very similar to traditional wallpaper, only this custom wallpaper will feature your very own original artwork.

While a custom mural of your artwork will surely be a welcome addition to your home, it would also be a thoughtful gift for a loved one. And since we utilize archival based inks that make our custom wallpaper waterproof and incredibly UV resistant, you won't have to worry about the longevity of your piece. Childrens' artwork that may not be as polished as a seasoned artist is still a very viable source, and would fit well in their bedroom, playroom, or arts and crafts room. So dust off those brushes or go back to your portfolio and find the piece that would make a perfect wall mural, your original artwork mural will certainly leave a lasting impression with its viewers.

Custom Wallpaper Themes: Carnival Custom Wallpaper

Today's post is dedicated to our former web developer Krystine, who helped us launch a number of our custom wallpaper and event decor sites. In addition to being a genetically predispositioned master web programmer and coder, she is also a burgeoning performer. Specifically, she is a member of the new generation of sideshow performers. Krystine specializes in fire breathing, walking on glass, and pounding nails up her nose (aka the human blockhead). This unprecedented combination of personality traits and skills made her a valued member of our team, but alas, she has moved on and is currently performing in a sideshow act on Coney Island.

The custom wall mural we're featuring in the inspiration room may not be as dark as one Krystine might commission, but it has the carnival/circus vibe that we're going for. The spinning ferris wheel was photographed with a longer exposure time, giving the lights a motion blur. The swirling lights in the wall mural are set off nicely by the black background, creating the perfect carnival custom wallpaper installation.

There's plenty of other ways you could proceed with a carnival themed custom wallpaper. Consider using shots of a carousel, or old sideshow photographs for a more vintage feel. Carnival posters would also be a great reference for a sideshow themed wall mural. Check out Krystine's website to explore more about her and her act. And if you make it to the sideshow act on Coney Island (avoid the rat show nearby!) say hello to Krystine for us.

Custom Wallpaper Inspired By CL Schneider Jewelry

"Tapestries of Exotic Gemstones" is how jewelry designer CL Schneider describes his work. Featuring uncommon and gorgeous gemstones from around the world, Schneider's jewelry designs are each an orignal handcrafted work of art. CL Schneider's jewelry varies from earrings and bracelets, to more complex, ornate necklaces. In addition, like our custom wallpaper service, CL Schneider designs custom jewelry pieces for clients based on their specifications.

We love the look of the stones Schneider uses, which often contain colorful striations and interesting textures. In particular, one stone he utilizes that we love is labradorite, which varies in shades of blues with some purple undertones. We used a macro shot of labradorite to put together the custom wallpaper design we're featuring in the inspiration room. The bluish-purple gradients running through the mural emulate the beautiful stones Schneider uses, and if you love the way this stone looks on the wall as a mural, you'll definitely love it as a piece of heirloom jewelry.

CL Schneider uses host of other gemstones that may inspire a custom wall mural: coral, pearl, lapis lazuli and garnet to name a few, offer a rainbow of colors that will coordinate well with a variety of color palettes. Consider an onyx wall mural in a sleek living room, or a jasper mural as an accent wall in a powder room. CL Schneider's website was also recently updated, and now features a line of pendants called DreamStones; learn about each stone's metaphysical properties and uses. Please check out his new site and his incredible jewelry collections, you will certainly be inspired by his work.

Custom Wallpaper Project: Tattoo Custom Wallpaper

We like to boast that custom wallpaper offers you unparalleled opportunities for personal expression. Digitally printed wallpaper has only been around for the last five years or so, so when you reflect upon earlier forms of decorative self-expression, one quickly thinks of tattooing. Tattooing has been around for thousands of years before the common era, existing in an environment that predated notions of tattooing being taboo.

Once prevailing Western attitudes shifted and tattoos became subversive, people wanted them more than ever. The ability to clearly and artistically showcase an important idea or memory to a viewer is a powerful asset. This statement holds true for custom wallpaper as well as tattoos, as custom wallpaper allows you impart a multitude of ideas to the viewer based solely on your interests and passions.

Whereas a tattoo will follow you wherever you go, a custom wall mural will certainly be more stationary, but will be just as illustrative about your life as a tattoo. In the inspiration room we're featuring today, we've taken both ideas of custom wallpaper and tattoos and brought them together full circle, designing a wall mural based off of a full back tattoo of a dragon. And while flesh-colored walls may appeal to some, we liked the idea of adding a blue tint so the custom wall mural would match the present furnishings better. Custom wallpaper imagery is as unlimited as tattoo images, limited only by your imagination or available un-inked skin. What's more, should you grow to dislike your custom wall mural, simply strip it off the wall. If only it was so easy to do the same with that tattoo of your first boyfriend!

Custom Wallpaper Design: Circuit Board Wallpaper

Back in the early 80's as a child, there was nothing cooler than breaking open an old Simon game or other toy with a circuit board. The maze of components in different shapes and sizes arranged down multiple connection points always evoked similarities to the look of a small city from the future. It's influences from childhood like this that inspire some of the best custom wall murals that you're bound to love for aesthetic as well as nostalgic reasons.

We think circuit boards are beautiful; they're often quite colorful and compositionally have many interesting features, repetition, pattern and balance. The circuit board custom wallpaper that we're featuring in the inspiration room has strong teal and navy blue colors present. The wall mural gets a lot of visual interest from all the components scattered around the board; all of the circular elements are particularly effective at giving the wallpaper an engaging look.

This custom wallpaper project is perfect for those technologically inclined. If you've ever made disassembling machines a hobby or have ever been called a "nerd", this custom wall mural is the perfect way to wear your advanced understanding of electronics on your sleeve, all the while looking like a trend setter in the process. If designers and stylists are those who typically inform interior decor trends, this is the mural that will definitely appeal to those more left-brained individuals who aren't afraid to let the right side shine.

Website Redesign: Great Wall Custom Coverings

Here at Great Wall Custom Coverings, we toil day and night to bring you the absolute best custom wallpaper and wall murals available today, and we love what we do. However, sometimes you need to take a break and invest a little time back in yourself. That's exactly what we did with our website this week; we gave the homepage its very own day of beauty.

We liked the old homepage, but it was time to freshen up. We still have the same information and imagery for custom wallpaper, but we've added a few new features. Namely, we've added links to our satellite interior decor and event decor websites. We've already blogged about our other interior decor sites, Wallgazer and Mosaic Tile Wallpaper. We're now featuring a link to our event decor site Bar Mitzvah Backdrops, we we specialize in printing large scenic backdrops for special events.

With these changes in place, check back soon for more updates. We'll be featuring different custom wallpaper installation photos and blog entries that you may have missed, or certainly missed, or whichever! Plus, we'll be launching a few more satellite decor sites in the very near future as well. You'll be updated via our blog, but soon you'll be able to reach these sites from the Great Wall homepage as well. We hope you enjoy the new look and feel of our website!

Custom Wallpaper Design: Playing With Juxtaposition

The custom wall mural we're featuring today is one of our new Wallgazer wallpaper designs available at www.Wallgazer.net. The mural, designed by Andi Kubacki, is titled "Factory Light." A design based on factory windows that you'd see dotting the rust belt. The mural image itself is a study in juxtaposition; broken glass and disintegrating window glazing bespeaking a broken down, unkempt factory facade. But the vibrant greens and blues have such a cheerful, positive disposition that the combination creates a slightly jarring reaction.

The installation of the custom wall mural continues the theme of juxtaposition. Add this edgy, slightly grungy mural to a clean-lined contemporary room, and the dueling forces of of decay and perfection come full circle. Custom wallpaper is particularly effective at evoking such emotions as custom wallcoverings are so unexpected and original, and have so much more life than traditional mass produced wallpaper as a whole.

Of course, if the blighted post-industrial aesthetic isn't your cup of tea, this notion of juxtaposition can be applied to any room with whichever custom wallpaper imagery you choose. Think of a vibrantly colored wall mural in a space decorated in mostly whites and neutrals, or a very modern wallpaper pattern mingling in a formal dining room populated with antiques. Whichever way you approach your custom wallpaper installation, giving a nod to juxtaposition will certainly give your guests something to talk about.

Custom Wallpaper Design: Decorating With Stripes

We absolutely love stripes on a wall. Vertical stripes instantly add a feeling of height to a room, while horizontal stripes enhance a feeling of spaciousness. Random stripes, stripes varying in width and color are one of the most visually interesting ways to cover your walls. In fact, we painted a wall of stripes in our studio about four years ago when we moved in. The process of taping lines and re-taping took just over 14 hours for a single large wall. That's a time investment we can no longer afford; the solution: stripe custom wallpaper!

Consider an artist like Mark Rothko. His paintings that usually consisted of only a few broad swaths of color is about as high art as you can take the stripe. Use this artistic inspiration for the jumping off point for a stripe custom wallpaper installation. Your stripe wallpaper may have a rough outline like a Rothko painting, graphic in nature but with a very organic sensibility. You may like a cleaner, sharply outlined stripe wallpaper like the inspiration room above, which features a multi-colored striped wall mural, with a graphic silhouette of flowers mingled at the bottom.

Stripes allow you complete freedom to experiment with mixing many colors. Custom stripe wallpaper lets you use colors in combinations that may not have been so easily achievable with off the shelf decor products. Mixing the scale of the stripes is another way to customize your stripe wallpaper. Broad stripes emphasize a feeling of space in a room, while tighter stripes evoke a more classic wallpaper pattern, but offer a lot of detail upon closer inspection. So whether you like a thick, thin, vertical or horizontal stripe, our designers will be able to create the stripe covered wall that you've always wanted but haven't had the time to paint.

Custom Wallpaper Project: Dining Room Wall Mural

Custom wallpaper installations are well suited for just about anywhere in your home. The one space in our homes that none of us use enough is our dining room. With families so busy and time always in short supply, it's a wonder sometimes if you even see your family, let alone dine together.

That's why we propose a custom wall mural in your dining room, in hopes that the wallpaper will be so captivating that not only meals, but homework, coffee, and socializing will always take place there. Our wall murals are always a conversation piece, and should dinner conversation grow stale, tell the tale of how your custom wallpaper installation came to be!

In the inspiration room shown, we suggest using a subtle image in black and white. Black and white custom wallpaper imagery always has such a chic quality, the prefect backdrop for a formal dinner. Focusing on a more ambient image as opposed to a very busy wallpaper pattern may lend itself well to your decor. If you have a more colorful palette and accessories, go with a wall mural with more energy and presence. Use your own image to create a unique dining room custom mural that will be a feast for your guests' eyes.

Mosaic Tile Wallpaper: Mosaic Wall Mural

At our sister site Mosaic Tile Wallpaper, we've created a line of faux tile wallpaper that looks as authentic as real tile. Depending on your taste, you can select from different tile finishes, such as tumbled marble, rustic glass tile and art glass. These tile textures are then printed to wallpaper according to your color choice. Once installed, our custom mosaic tile wallpaper is perfect for a unique but understated wall.

If you want a custom wallpaper installation with a tile look but with more punch, consider a mosaic tile wallpaper mural. This is a great custom wallpaper project because it allows you to use your own photo. Again, you pick the tile texture that best suits your taste. With that tile texture in hand, we then use our original process to make your photograph look like an authentic mosaic tile installation.

The image above is such an example. Our client wanted to use this image as a purely photographic wall mural. However, the resolution of the image was poor, so the custom wallpaper wouldn't have been photorealsitic. To sidestep this problem, we gave the image our mosaic tile wallpaper treatment, and as you can see the result is gorgeous. We've discussed problematic images before, those that are too low-resolution to print clearly. The mosaic tile wallpaper solution is a great way to be able to still use the image you want, without having to worry about pixilation.

Wallgazer Wallpaper Design: Drugs Saved My Life

Today we are featuring a wall mural that is available for purchase at Wallgazer. The mural, titled "Drugs Saved My Life," is the spirit of Prozac Nation embodied in wallpaper. Prozac Nation, written by Elizabeth Wurtzel and published in 1994, is a memoir documenting the author's struggle with depression. With the use of prescribed psychotropic medication, the author finds better living through chemicals, while still negotiating the demands of everyday life and dealing with the stigma associated with mental illness.

Our wall mural wallpaper featuring a pattern of slick orange and white pills is anything but depressing. And though the mural is colorful and vibrant, it still offers a less than light-heated commentary on modern society and our obsession with prescription medication. As with many of our original wallpaper designs at Wallgazer, "Drugs Saved My Life" is not only intended to be decorative, but also expressive.

In keeping with our ability to further customize and personalize our wall murals, you can opt to have the pill colors changed to mesh better with your current decor scheme. Additionally, the scale of the pills in the mural can be altered to give you a collection of larger pills, or an even tighter pattern of smaller pills. Check out this and our other available Wallgazer wallpaper designs here!