Outdoor Rainbow Mural

This post is sponsored by Ace Hardware. I received compensation and product, but all opinions and content are my own

Ever since we moved into this house, I’ve been DREAMING of painting the wall on the side of our patio as a rainbow! I figured, it’s the side of the garage, no one but our family really sees it – why not have some fun?! And dang! I sure love it! I thought I’d show you how I painted my outdoor rainbow mural.

how to paint an outdoor rainbow mural

picking my colors

my mood board for this makeover. I wanted to use similar colors to my rainbow fence

When I started this project, I knew I wanted to do a rainbow mural with fresh colors that I hadn’t used before. Every year Benjamin Moore chooses a color of the year. This year’s is First Light 2102-70 – a soft, rosy hue blooming with potential. So that’s where I began! 

Then, I pulled out my paint color fan deck and selected two pinks next to it on the sample. If you don’t have a paint color fan deck, you can grab Benjamin Moore paint swatches at your local Ace Hardware store. Doing this will give the rainbow the perfect ombre look. It’s a fool-proof way to choose colors that look perfect next to each other. 

Side note, did you know that if you put two different strips together from a Benjamin Moore fan deck, the third color down are considered coordinating colors? This is a great way to pick colors that will look great together!

 

Benjamin Moore also created a Color Trends 2020 palette with 10 hues. This year’s are bright and airy and are easy to live with. That sounded perfect to me! So I used those as a guide. Here’s the rest of the Color Trends 2020 palette with the colors I selected with an asterisk.

• • • First Light 2102-70*
    • White Heron OC-57*
    • Crystalline AF-485*
    • Windmill Wings 2067-60*
    • Buxton Blue HC-149
    • Golden Straw 2152-50*
    • Thunder AF-685
    • Cushing Green HC-125
    • Oxford Gray 2128-40
    • Blue Danube 2062-30

After I chose my main colors, I continued to use the paint color fan deck to choose the colors next to them on each sample to complete my rainbow.

SUPPLIES

• painter’s tape
• level
• Handy Plastic Bucket
• White Heron OC-57 
• First Light 2102-70
• Honey Hut 2102-60
• Rose Bisque 2102-50
• Mannequin Cream 2152-60
• Golden Straw – 2152-50
• Golden Tan 2152-40
• Crystalline AF-485
• Tranquility AF-490
• White Satin – 2067-70
• Windmill Wings 2067-60
• Summer Blue – 2067-50

All paint was mixed in Benjamin Moore ben Exterior Low Lustre (like satin). I got 1 quart of each color for this project. That ended up being more than enough. I only used 1/2 of the paint (which is great so I can do lots more rainbow projects in my future!).

I was excited to use Benjamin Moore paints from Ace because they are high quality and their colors are really gorgeous! Plus, they have more than 3,500 options! The paint was all mixed at my local Ace Hardware.

Did you know that Ace Hardware is within 15 minutes of 3/4 of all houses in the US?! That makes them super convenient. I love how they feel like they’re part of the community. Most of the Ace Hardware stores are independently owned and operated by local entrepreneurs so I think that adds to the local community feel.

Ace carries paint, power tools, grills, lawn, and pretty much anything you need to fix and maintain your home. They even have a buy online and deliver from the store option! I totally appreciate that service. For more information about Ace Hardware, visit www.acehardware.com. 

Getting paint right now can seem a little tricky, but I just called my order in and did payment over the phone. When I got to the store, I called the front desk, and one of their employees brought it out and put it in the back of my truck. It was so nice and convenient!

Then, I had everything I needed to begin painting! If you’re ready to get started on your own paint project, visit Ace Hardware to see the Benjamin Moore collection.

before

When we first bought the house, the main wall was a milk chocolate brown. I HATED that color, so after power washing the wall, I painted it white pretty quickly.

The white was SO much better! But I still knew that I wanted to do a rainbow mural. I’m happy that I painted it white first because it was easier to cover the white and see the pencil lines. Plus, I got a few months of enjoying this patio (when I really hated the brown).

step 1- taping

 

Ok! So now that everyone is up to speed, I thought I’d share the tutorial. Start by measuring the height of the wall and then divide that number by how many stripes you want to paint. I did 11 stripes (I painted the wood up top the White Heron color). That made each stripe 9.5″ tall. I grabbed a level and pencil and marked off the first line.

Then I pulled out my painter’s tape and taped on the bottom of the pencil line.

Continue drawing pencil lines and then taping them. However, MAKE SURE that you put the tape in the correct spot, so the top row has tape below the pencil row and then the second row has tape above the pencil row. Continue this pattern all the way down.

You’ll want every other row to be the whole 9.5″ tall. For instance, the top stripe is ready to paint, but the next stripe has tape on the top and bottom of it. If I painted inside of that, it’d be the wrong height. So, I added a piece of tape to remember to not paint it.

step 2- prep for painting

Next, it’s time to prep for painting. I grabbed all the paint and numbered each one with where it’d go on the wall. 1 is the top color on the mural, and 11 is the bottom color. This small step will save time and should minimize mistakes since it makes it easy to know which paint color to grab next.

I used a painter’s pail to hold the quarts of paint. This made it so that I could put my hand in the handle and quickly climb up and down the step ladder while painting. I also made sure to have everything I needed to paint – brushes, a wet rag in case of any drips, stir stick, and a paint can opener.

step 3- begin painting

And now, begin painting! I started at the top and worked my way down, painting every other stripe. Once those were all painted and dry, I did a second coat on each to make sure I got even coverage.

Note, I didn’t seal the tape. If I wanted to prevent bleeds, I would have painted along the painter’s tape with the white paint color. I didn’t care about bleeds because I knew I’d cover them with the next color.

step 4- finish painting the rows

Finally, I removed the painter’s tape from the finished stripes and began painting the other stripes. With this, you have two options. You can wait a day or two and then tape again over the painted stripes. Or you can do what I did and slowly paint within the lines. Note, this takes a while to do, but means you can save tape and time.

I continued down the wall – taking my time and doing two coats on each row. It was exciting to see the outdoor rainbow mural slowly come together!

after- outdoor rainbow mural 

Here is the outdoor rainbow mural is in all her glory! I LOVE how it turned out! It’s soft and so happy to hang out next to. It took a few days of painting (thank goodness we had some cooler Florida days). I think it was 100% worth it! 

I wanted to finish up with a sneak peek of what the patio furniture looks like against the wall. For this area, I went with mostly neutral furniture because I knew I’d eventually have the rainbow mural here. You can see that I painted the door pink to match with the mural (it’s the color Honey Hut).

What do you think? Isn’t it so colorful and happy?! I’m so thrilled with this mural! It makes this house feel like my home!

If you love it, pin it!