How to Paint a Faux Building on a Wall

Clean the area of the wall where you plan to a faux building mural. Dry the area completely.

Set up a projector with an image of the building that you’d like to copy for the wall mural. Project the image onto the wall in the desired size. Move the projector closer to the wall to make the image of the building smaller; place the projector farther away from the wall to make the building image larger.

Trace the projected building’s outline onto the wall with a pencil. Trace the windows and any other visible architectural details onto the wall. Turn off and remove the projector when the building’s outline is complete.

Trace over the pencil lines with a paint pen. If the building in the projected image was solid and you prefer to add bricks or blocks on the building’s exterior, trace the design lines using a stencil or a template equal to the bricks’ desired size. Tape the outside edges of the building's outline with painter's tape protecting the wall on all sides of the mural.

Color the inside of the building’s interior outlines with acrylic paint. Begin in the building’s center and work your way to each outside edge. For example, paint inside the window outlines in the building’s center before painting the bricks around the windows. Alter the colors of the faux bricks mimicking real bricks. Vary the shades of red and brown on side-by-side bricks making the building’s exterior seem more real.

Let the paint dry completely. Spraying polyurethane over the faux building design seals and protects the painted image.