This week’s One Room Challenge™ update is all about Cactilicious Kitchen color! Thanks to Image Craft and their speedy service, I was able to pick up my custom pop-art wallpaper mural yesterday and it’s exactly what I hoped it would be - which may be a little wild to unsuspecting bystanders who were expecting something a little more restrained! Here’s a speak peek of one tiny section:
Pop-art cactus blossoms mural sneak peek!!
I started with a photograph, but I needed to incorporate all my colors to tie all the kitchen elements together - my black countertops and terracotta tile floors, which I could not change, plus green (because cactus, duh), and either peach or pink cactus blossoms (because COLOR!). However, despite the thousands upon thousands of cactus blossom images in my archives, none were going to cover all the bases, so I made my own. Not only that, I wanted it to be more abstract, rather than a straight-up large photo plastered to the wall.
First, I had to choose an image that could be cropped to a near square to cover an 80”H x 84”W wall, then I experimented with several of the artsy filters built into Photoshop Elements. After I settled on one or more (I’m not entirely sure now!), I then embarked on a series of color manipulations by adjusting the hue in individually selected areas over the entire image. The flowers started out pink, but I wanted to add in some more orange/peach tones in the highlight areas to tie in the terracotta floor tile. I played with the file for around two hours before I was satisfied with the result. Then I sent it to the fine folks at Image Craft, and voilà - a custom pop-art peel and stick wallpaper mural!
I’d be remiss if I didn’t throw in an extra shout-out to Image Craft here in Phoenix for the excellent quality and service. As the Southwest’s premier large format graphics printer, they service customers nationwide with a huge variety of products, from 3D acrylic letters cut out via CNC router to billboards, vehicle graphics, wall graphics, signage, and much more. They even reproduce fine art by making custom inkjet prints on a variety of substrates in any size you can imagine. Many internationally known photographers have their exhibition images both printed and framed at Image Craft - in fact, the company got its start by processing film in owner Doug Olson’s garage!
Image Craft’s lobby in Phoenix, AZ - when they say “Any Image. Any Size. Anywhere.” they are not kidding!
Now that the mural’s in my possession, my Cactilicious Kitchen plans for this next week include choosing a paint color from my mural for the upper cabinets (and what remains of the walls) and then actually painting said cabinets. This past week, I removed all the doors and drilled handle holes in preparation. Because they’re melamine, I’m priming with Kilz Adhesion primer, first, then painting and possibly finishing off with a coat of Minwax Polycrylic. If anyone has any tips for painting melamine, or even a cautionary tale, please drop it in the comments or DM me over at Instagram at @LAJphotos. In fact, head on over to my IG Stories and cast your vote for the cabinet/wall color!
A little teaser for where I’m headed with accessories…. I’ll list all my sources in the final post!