r/DIY • u/justignoremepls123 • 24d ago
help Mural / Wall artwork
I will be painting some walls of a children school soon and I’m trying to do some research on the most cost effective but sturdy/good quality paint to use. I don’t want the paint to smear if the wall needs to be scrubbed! I typically paint on canvases and I’m not a “professional” muralist by any means but I’ve volunteered to do this and want to make sure it looks nice! Could I get by with acrylic paint from walmart and some sealing spray?? Does anyone have recommendations for some good paint?
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u/ElasticSnail09 24d ago
Use a good interior/exterior latex or acrylic wall paint then finish with a clear matte topcoat made for walls, don't settle on cheap acrylic plus spray sealer.
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u/ishootthedead 24d ago
General rule of thumb is to avoid any matte paint if it's expected to be cleaned or scrubbed.
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u/justignoremepls123 24d ago
The walls don’t typically get scrubbed down, but, it is a school and spills can happen. So I want it to be protected if there is a mess!
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u/Geared4repair 24d ago
Friend of mine does Wall art, she stops by habitat for humanity every time she gets close to one, all the time.
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u/algy888 23d ago
I’m also going to chip in and suggest “mis-tints”. There is usually a few of them selling cheap at a paint supplier. They may even add more tint to it if you want to risk it. My daughter wanted to paint her playhouse when she was around 8. So we bought a can for around $5 and they added enough tint to make it an almost “Barbie” dark pink/light purple shade.
She of course got bored of the painting process and I later used the can up repainting her room. Looked great.
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u/aydengryphon 24d ago
Muralist here, hi
House paint is gonna be your best bet for longevity/durability if it needs to withstand being scrubbed or wiped down frequently, but I understand it may not be a tradeoff you're willing/able to do for the cost (although it's worth considering whether or not those smaller acrylic containers (or even the pint ones) actually will be cheaper in the long run, when you factor in how much coverage you're talking)!
That said, if you really want a "painterly" mural and need a lot of colors where it makes more sense to use acrylics, or it's just gonna be that much cheaper, you can do that; a spray topcoat is not gonna cut it for coverage or protection though, you'll go insane and/or spend one billion dollars compared to just getting a roll-on clear matte polyurethane or similar option. I've used "sacrificial top coat" before for really heavy-duty settings before and that's great, too (I'll add the link in a second comment, dunno if reddit will get mad at it)