When painting a mural, you’re always looking to make an impression. The location, shape, and size of the facade are almost equally as important as the painting that we create upon it.
If you have an art-loving family that welcomes your creations all around the home, then one place that might be begging to be the focus of your next creative masterpiece might be your garage door. Think about it, it’s large, it’s flat, and in most cases it’s already painted white. It’s essentially a component of your household that is just begging for a creative injection. If you decide to face this undertaking head on, there are a few things you might want to consider on your journey.
Preparing the Work Surface
As mentioned before, the great thing about a garage door is that it is probably already painted white. This means you won’t need any sort of priming before you start your artwork. However, if it’s not painted white you’ll want to give it a thorough coat of primer after you’ve completed these preparation steps.
To prepare your garage door for painting you’ll want to put painters tape over all of the windows, any metal fixtures, and any of the components of the tracks. You’ll want to tape off the trim of the garage as well, and make sure that any of the surfaces that you want to leave untouched are properly protected. Once all of that is complete, you’ll want to make sure the garage door is clean and ready to accept paint. At a minimum you’ll want to wipe it down with a damp cloth, and in some cases it might need a good scrub with soap and water. Just make sure to rinse thoroughly when you’re done.
Consider the Functionality
One thing to keep in mind as you get started in the creative process is that the place you’ve chosen to paint is mobile. The garage door will be able to open or close at any given time. If it doesn’t you’ll probably want to replace the garage door opener. You can even find a smart garage door opener that will function with other smart devices, perhaps this is something you can integrate with your creative piece.
You may want to take advantage of the fact that the garage door opens and closes. An obvious application would be to paint a picture of a mouth so your cars will get “eaten” every time you park. You’re creative though, so I’m sure you can come up with something a bit more clever.
With all of that out of the way, get on with painting your masterpiece. When you’re done you’ll want to take some efforts to preserve your work.
Preserving Your Masterpiece
Once you’ve finished your ambitiously creative mural on your garage door, you’ll want to take some measures to ensure that it lasts. As we mentioned earlier garage doors do move quite frequently. They’re also exposed to the elements, so without a little extra protection the colors will be inclined to fade and even worse, you can see chipping away of the paint over time.
To prevent this, you’ll want to make sure to apply a thorough coat of clear coat once your finished. Of course, you’ll want to make sure that the paint you used for your mural is compatible with the clear coat, so that’s another thing to keep in mind. You might be best off using all exterior paint, though you may be somewhat limited in the colors. You could of course add some pigments of your own.
Let us know how your garage door mural goes if you decide to give it a shot. We’d love to see how it comes out!
Casey Collins is an avid art enthusiast and loves to write about her passions, ranging from painting to obscure projects, and even basic lifestyle updates. She is a mother of three and happily married to her husband Steve.