Kids' room Super Mario mural

Inspired by online photos of parents who'd redone their kids' rooms as massive, colorful Super Mario murals, Casey Fleser set out to do the same for his son's room, to excellent effect:

Each $50 pack of ThinkGeek decals look to have about 8 of the ground blocks in them. If I figured right, I need about 170 blocks. Or about $1,100 worth of decals. Even then I probably wouldn't be able to recreate my World 1-1 scene exactly. But what if I made my own decals? Maybe I could print my patterns on some clear labels and stick those on the walls? Even if the labels had been clear, the ink would have smeared unless I applied some sort of clear coat, so that idea was out. My next idea was to create masking templates using those same labels and go back to the painting idea.
It certainly wasn't going to be very fast, but the template idea worked pretty well. There were several of set backs, and several areas had to be painted freehand, but after about 3 weeks of work, we finally finished the room. It has a ton of mistakes (that I won't bother to point out), but all in all I think it turned out really well. Now if I can just avoid blurting out any more ridiculous ideas.

This Year's Stupid Idea

Super Mario Bros. Room (Flickr)

(Thanks, Webslog, via Submitterator!)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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museincognito

Good point, anon. But… as I used to tell clients, it’s just paint. Primer and a fresh coat (and some spot sanding possibly) should do the trick for a brand new canvas. :)

Some of my most rewarding projects were done for/with kids. When they get the urge for the big redo, I highly recommend letting them do as much of it they can/want themselves (after everything else has been well-protected or removed, of course). It’s just paint. :)
Anonymous

Talk about mistakes! How is Luigi on the right side of the castle without have gone down the flagpole? This injustice will not stand! ;)
Anonymous

I’m Anon #1 and I have to say Anon #2 is way off. The one and one third wall of Mario in my son’s room is a favorite of his and friends that come over. You can actually buy the newer Mario decals from ThinkGeek, but they’re not nearly as cool. And they’re not just my childhood memories either. My son rocks out on SMB too. And seriously, Howdy Doody?

I do agree museincognito, but if he were my child, I wouldn’t be repainting his room for a long while. Not after three weeks of work.
- somegeekintn
  
  Yeah, It’s never ever getting repainted :)
museincognito

Non-Mario-liking mom lets proud sooo-likes-Mario tenant son get Awesome Mario room of his dreams! YAY!!
- somegeekintn
  
  Mario-liking-dad still likes Mario after finally finishing that project, but it was touch and go for awhile!
Anonymous

I think that room is great, and it’s great to see a parent do something special for their child. Mario Brothers has universal appeal, from little kids, to middle age parents, and even soccer hooligans hahaha: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epQdreYwO5s
Muse

This is very impressive and well executed. I admire the patience and attention to detail. The fact that it is painted makes it way cooler. This kid is lucky to have talented and crafty parents.
Anonymous

I’ve always wondered about taking a document camera and projector to superimpose the image on the wall, this would work well for the pencil portion of the wall prep.
Anonymous

Kudos parents! My friends and I did the same thing back i 2003 to a run-down hallway in a a downtown apartment we had. Stencils were made from cardboard, and each pixel done by hand. The ground blocks (!!) were the must infuriating!!
Anonymous

Looks great – and really, its a blue painted room(soothing) that happens to have details on the bottom. So its not even that busy, while maintaining flavor. Well’done and indeed the kid is lucky to have parents w/skills and ingenuity. I’m sure it manifests itself in other positive ways too :)
Anonymous

Well, good for her and him too. My son has a pack of the ThinkGeek decals up on his Mario sky blue inspired walls and it looks pretty damn good. He also has a Curious George poster, WALL-E, mini-pennants of all 32 NHL teams, Stanley Cup poster, Alex Ovechkin poster, Pittsburgh Penguins clock, Moon in My Room, St. Louis Cardinals plaque, and a metal Speed Racer sign. He got a Darth Vader fathead for Christmas but he’s too scared of him to put it up right now. Anyway, my point is, great work for sure. I just hope he’s cool with Mario for awhile.
Flashman

Chinese Tiger Mom would not approve!
Anonymous

Why are people reliving their childhoods through their kids? Would you have been happy if your parent did up your room in Howdy Doody motif? Why plaster old school Mario on a kid who should have his or her OWN childhood memories. There’s plenty of good NEW stuff out there for a kid to look back fondly on (including the newer Mario stuff). Why saddle your child with your own sense of lost childhood? Nostalgia has really gone too far in our generation.
- Anonymous
  
  It’s possible that the kid loves Mario, so let’s check our assumptions and cynicism at the door
- Anonymous
  
  Oh angry typing guy….You should get the facts first. No, I’m pretty sure I would not have liked to have had a Howdy Doody room. However, I happen to know that the boy who is now the proud tenant of this Awesome Mario room LOVES Mario. He loves all Mario games and is a big video gamer. Also, as the mother if this boy, I must tell you that he was asked how he would like his room to be decorated and he answered “MARIO!!!!” So please do not be accusing us of reliving our childhood because I promise you I do not like Mario :)
- Anonymous
  
  My 11 year old knows more about classic video games (like Mario and Zelda) than most of my so-called peers. He _loves_ video games, and… if he sees this post… he will likely ask for a room treatment similar to this.
museincognito

Oh, yes, projectors are ENORMOUSLY helpful and time-saving. As are stencils. I’m sure mural-making-dad enjoys hearing about these secret agent techniques *afterwards*…. Nice job!