Mimi's Murals
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Add some CREATIVITY to your walls!
mimi@mimismurals.com
(404) 593-0603
mimi@mimismurals.com
(404) 593-0603
Arsene's AWARD WINNING Harry Potter Themed
Xtreme Makeover Room
Arsene is a student at The Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta. Ron Clark, who just recieved $1.2M from Oprah for his school, is an innovative educator who gives scholarships to deserving inner city kids for a chance at an exceptional private school education. Every year he holds an essay contest for his students to get an Xtreme Make Over Room.
In this way, these kids, many of whom live in very poor conditions, are given not only a great education, but a sanctuary at home that is more condusive to learning. 10 lucky students won....each room is taken on by a corp. sponsor like Delta, Home Depot, etc. I was contacted by Promethean, an educational supply co., that was in charge of Arsene's room.
We came up with a concept of making the room into one of the Hogwart dorms, complete with castle brick walls, a night sky, and a crumbling wall featuring a scene of hogwart's castle on the hill.
The contest was XTREME! We had only from 5pm Friday til 10AM Sunday to complete it. That's only 41 hours!!! We slept only 3 hours the first night, and most of us never even slept the 2nd night! With a round-the-clock team of 40 volunteers, we got it done! We replaced EVERYTHING in the room, hall and bath. We painted EVERY surface! I had to keep teams of 4 to 12 people busy at all times.... it was controlled chaos!!!
At the reveal, Arsene's jaw dropped. I have never seen a more sincere, grateful thank you. I feel truly blessed to have been part of this experience, and it was heartwarming to know what a difference we made in that boy's life. I made some wonderful new friends, pushed myself to exhaustion and then some, and would do it again in a heartbeat!!!!
To top off the whole experience, the room won FIRST PLACE!!!! Woohoo!!!!
I am so proud of my creation! When Ron Clark came to see the room for judging he said, and I quote "Arsene! Even Billionaire's children who love Harry Potter don't have a room as cool as this!"
The first place Harry Potter Room
Here you can see the painted ceiling! Painted midnight blue, complete with clouds and glow in the dark stars!
Closeup of castle bricks. due to the time crunch, I had to come up with a simple design, that still had impact. These bricks were created using a basecoat of pale grey, taping off the walls, sponging on a darker grey, then removing the tape and adding veins and highlights.
Signing my work!
This is the attached bathroom. We couldn't do the bedroom and not the bath!!! The angled walls that made this bath slightly clausterphobic before, are now the best part! EVERYTHING is new! The toilet, sink, fixtures.....
Here you can see the hall attaching the bedroom to the bath. I chose a deeper grey to set apart the room. Every item in the room is new. Nothing but Arsene's clothes came back in!
The start of the mural. The concept was that one stone wall was crumbled away to reveal this view. I had to paint the mural in between directing everyone!
Here you can see the hall attaching the bedroom to the bath. I chose a deeper grey to set apart the room. Every item in the room is new. Nothing but Arsene's clothes came back in!
The start of the mural. The concept was that one stone wall was crumbled away to reveal this view. I had to paint the mural in between directing everyone!
Another candid shot of the work in progress! I taught 2 teams of 3 how to do the faux finish that created the bricks. We had volunteers who painted trim, installed fixtures, laid the flooring, etc. It was controlled chaos!
Just a few of the over 40 volunteers who worked day and night to complete this project! You can see the tape hasn't been removed to reveal the bricks yet in the hall.
The glow of the moon!
EVERYTHING was donated! The bed, computer, camera, digital frame, books, flat screen, WII, school supplies, paint, flooring...EVERYTHING! The turf floor is a feature from the books.....the dorms had grass inside....Arsene requested it!
An artistic view of the magical room!
