The history of fresco painting goes back centuries, and this ancient art can be admired in many historic homes and buildings. Nowadays, residential mural painting runs the gamut of abstract, landscape and geometric styles adding a vivid focal point to a room. These projects from the ELLE Decoration archives are sure to inspire, with ten varied wall mural ideas for the modern home.
A jewel-toned abstract fresco in Paris
The homeowners of this Parisian apartment opted for a neutral palette everywhere but the dining area. The richly-coloured abstract mural was inspired by the work of American sculptor Alexander Calder and realised by artist Ottavia Moschini, who specialises in classical frescoes.
The LA apartment inspired by Le Corbusier
Colour is at the heart of this two-bedroom apartment in Santa Monica. Homeowner and Hollywood talent manager Evelyn O’Neill was inspired by the Le Corbusier-designed Maison La Roche whilst on a work trip to Paris, and the paint used throughout the home is made by Drikolor, the company that holds the licence for Le Corbusier’s original colours. Artist Louis Eisner used a palette of turquoise, soft coral and pale greys to paint the dreamy mural in the living room.
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The maximalist Memphis-style home
‘Colour is a cure,’ says artist Angela Chrusciaki Blehm. Upon seeing her vibrant Atlanta home, it’s clear she considers these words to live by. An ode to Memphis and Bauhaus styles, the artist took a paintbrush to walls and ceilings, covering them in vivid, graphic murals. In the living room, a colourful abstract mural overlooks the equally playful ‘Etcetera’ chairs by Jan Ekselius.
The California home that’s an ode to the seventies
This home, set into the lower ridges of California’s verdant Tamalpais Valley, is a balance between vintage and modern, curvaceous and linear, past and present. In the bedroom, interior design firm Chroma were influenced by 1970s geometric abstraction when designing this customised wallcovering in collaboration with artist Yedda Morrison. It works harmoniously with the room’s retro-inspired textiles and ‘Ophelia’ lamp by En Salmón Mostaza.
A painterly wall panel in Toronto
You needn’t have an artist on hand to paint directly onto walls – instead, try a wall panel, such as this mural with a freeform brushstroke from Phillip Jeffries. Designer Ali Budd installed it over the dining room of this Toronto home, creating a vivid focal point for mealtimes.
The Melbourne townhouse brimming with print and pattern
This landscape of jungle foliage and tropical birds by artist Valerie Sparks informed the colour palette of the rest of this stylish townhouse. Homeowner and interior designer Kate Challis continued the mural theme by covering the stairwell and hall in Fornasetti’s ‘Nuvolette’ cloud wallpaper.
A penthouse full of artisan touches
In 2021, ELLE Decoration and property developers Londonewcastle unveiled a stylish penthouse at the top of Chapterhouse, a dramatic renovated Victorian property in the heart of London’s Covent Garden. The ELLE Decoration team sought to champion British-based makers and designers when it came to designing the apartment; to create a statement in the corridor they turned to artist Adriana Jaros, who transformed a curved internal wall with one of her abstract pieces.
A floral mural blooms in north London
The homeowners of this period property in leafy Muswell Hill were keen to bring the outdoors in, so designer Tiffany Dugan installed Crittall doors and a terracotta herringbone floor that runs from the dining room onto the terrace. Decorative artist Eugenia Barrios Osborne blurred the lines between indoors and out even further with a mural of wildflowers that blooms over the dining table, which makes the home ‘feel it’s in the middle of the countryside’.
A graphic take on rainbow hues in Kings Cross
Formerly a plain white box, designer Rhonda Drakeford transformed this new-build apartment with graphic shapes, elements of brutalism and an uplifting colour palette. In the living room, she was inspired by mathematical charts when painting the wall mural which overlooks an equally graphic ‘Astoria’ rug by Made.
The Venetian home inspired by Carlo Scarpa
New York-based Sicilian artist Francesco Simeti specially designed this techni-coloured mural in the Venice home Massimo Adario. The brass headboard is by post-war sculptor Arnaldo Pomodoro and the red bedside lamps are a 1960s design by Tobia Scarpa for Flos.
