At Walls Republic, we strive to offer a wide variety of wallpaper products for our customers. One of the ways we do that is by offering you the chance to custom create your very own wallpaper mural! Sure, you can browse made-to-order wallpaper murals in our New Wallpaper Mural Arrivals category or check out the Bestselling Wallpaper Murals list, but creating your own wallpaper mural from scratch is exciting and innovative! It gives you total control over your wall décor product. In this guide, we'll be going over the main differences between traditional or regular wallpaper and a custom wallpaper mural, what type of wall you're decorating, and where to find images for your custom mural.

For an instance, in our recent custom mural wallpaper project with one of the fitness center in Florida they were able to accomplished their goal of achieving functional and enhanced quality fitness center by creating a personalized mural that would inspire and  motivate their visitors. The design and ambiance of their gym from this customize mural pump up and energize gym-goers to work harder.

In this guide, we'll be going over the main differences between traditional or regular wallpaper and a custom wallpaper mural, what type of wall you're decorating, and where to find images for your custom mural.

Differences Between Regular Wallpaper and a Custom Wallpaper Mural

Regular wallpaper and wallpaper murals serve similar functions – they add a stylish look to your walls and are available in a variety of different colors and designs. The major difference between the two categories is that wallpaper is mass produced and sold in rolls. If you like a particular design, you order it as is.

On the other hand, an advantage of buying a wallpaper mural is that these products are made-to-order. In other words, they are custom printed once an order has been put in. If you take a look at any of our mural product pages, you'll see a "Custom Size" section where you can customize the dimensions of the mural to fit your exact wall.

Because wallpaper murals are printed on a case-by-case basis, this allows for the opportunity to create fully custom orders. If you've browsed our catalogue and haven't found a particular image that speaks to you, then you'll definitely want to consider creating your own custom mural. This means you have full control over the image and how it looks!

In the image below, our customer requested for their honeymoon destination to be printed out as a bedroom mural so they can make their most memorable moment be a part of their home. They just provide us high resolution photo of it and our in-house designer curate a high quality digital print that capture the spirit of this travel destination. Then, for the substrate; they opted for more subtle textured surface that is suitable for this images and a subtle tactile finish that adds a sense of character to this customize landscape mural and forest-inspired personalized wallpaper.

What Type of Wall Shape Are You Covering

Walls come in different shapes and sizes and some are more suitable for certain images than others. The general rule of thumb is to find an image with proportions similar to your wall type. For example, square walls are walls where the height and width are the exact same or very similar (such as 6' by 6').

Rectangular walls are the ones we're most familiar with. These can exist as a landscape orientation, which is what is most common (the width of the wall is longer than it is tall, such as 9' high by 15' in width).

The second type of rectangular wall is portrait-oriented. This wall is the exact opposite of landscape – they have a longer height than width (such as 6' in width by 12' in height). Lastly, there are narrow or irregular shaped walls that don't really fall into these categories. An irregular-shaped wall might look like the one displayed below, where there's a section "missing" so it creates an "L" shape wall.

Figuring out your wall shape and keeping it in mind when choosing images will make the process of creating your custom wallpaper mural go much smoother. If you have a portrait-oriented image but you want to use it on your landscape-oriented shaped wall, parts of your image may end up getting cut off.

If your picture has distinct imagery (i.e. a building, a person, forest scenery, etc), then be sure to keep your wall proportions in mind. If the picture you want to use is abstract or features repetition (i.e. stars, outer space, faux wood, geometric shapes), then your wall proportions matter less.

Where To Find Images For Your Wallpaper Mural

Let's help you narrow down where you can find images for your custom wallpaper mural. One of the most convenient and easiest ways to find wallpaper mural images is online. There are many sources online that provide stock images that can be used for your wallpaper mural. Popular sites include Shutterstock, Getty Images, iStockPhoto, and Adobe Stock.

The important thing to keep in mind is that you want to find a high-resolution image so that when it's printed, the image clarity remains high-quality and it's not blurry. For bitmap (raster) images (files with extensions such as .jpg), the perfect size is 1,000 pixels x 1,000 pixels per square meter. However, the largest possible image size will suffice as long as it has a DPI of 300.

Another source for finding wallpaper mural images is to seek out professional photographers. While this will undoubtedly incur additional costs, it'll guarantee that your wallpaper mural image is truly one-of-a-kind. Working with a professional will also mean you're getting the right sized image for your custom project. It'll also allow you to really get the image you want since you'll be communicating what it is you're looking for.

Start creating your own custom wallpaper mural today!

Are you ready to start creating your own custom wallpaper mural? Click here to get started! Does all of this still seem a bit too complicated? Don't worry! Our in-house design team is ready to help. If you have a general idea of what type of image you want to find, our designers can help and will work with you to find the image perfect for your project.

Now that you know more about choosing images, what image would you absolutely LOVE as a wallpaper mural in your home or commercial space? Share your thoughts in the comments below! We'd like to hear from you so be sure to share this article using the social media links below and let us know what sort of images you like using on your walls.

Walls Republic Interior Design Blog - DESIGN ADVICE

DESIGN ADVICE is where you can learn more about wallpaper - how to use certain colours, wallpaper designs perfect for smaller spaces, what do wallpaper symbols mean, and so much more. Our goal is to help you understand everything there is to know about wallpaper products. If you have a particular wallpaper topic or product you want us to write about, let us know in the comments below.

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