How to Paint a Galaxy Wall Mural

How to Paint a Galaxy Wall

Well, the time has finally arrived. Our son told us he needed some space… outer space!

As we transition our three year old from his nursery to toddler room we are leaving behind the outdoor theme and blasting off into a new space themed room. First project on the list – painting a galaxy wall mural! Let’s go!

In today’s painting tutorial Brent will walk through his techniques for painting a galaxy wall mural. Galaxy wall murals make for the coolest focal wall in a space themed kids room.

Painting a colorful outer space mural is easier than you might think so don’t be afraid to go for it! Your kid will think you are amazing and love the results.

Paint a Galaxy Wall Mural

Supplies:
  • Black of Night SW 6993 Paint (1 Gallon in Cashmere Low Lustre Sheen)
  • High Reflective White SW 7757 Paint (Sample Size)
  • Honorable Blue SW 6811 Paint (Sample Size)
  • Dignity Blue SW 6804 Paint (Sample Size)
  • Flyway SW 6794 Paint (Sample Size)
  • Dewberry SW 6552 Paint (Sample Size)
  • Fully Purple SW 6983 Paint (Sample Size)
  • Kimono Violet SW 6839 Paint (Sample Size)
  • Passionate Purple SW 6981 Paint (Sample Size)
  • Squares of Cardboard
  • 6″ Foam Paint Roller

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Steps:

Paint a Galaxy Wall Mural

1 | First, we found a photo for inspiration and needed to figure out what paint colors to buy that would match the colors in our outer space inspiration photo. We have found the easiest way to find a color pallet from a photo is to use the Sherwin-Williams ColorSnap® Visualizer App. We opened the app, clicked the explore colors button and then the match a photo button to upload our photo.

The ColorSnap® Visualizer then automatically creates a color pallet from the photo. We fine tuned our color pallet by dragging the colored dots around until we found a color for each of the sections of the galaxy photo.

Painting a Galaxy Wall

Our Galaxy Wall Color Pallet: / Background: Black of Night SW 6993 / Stars: High Reflective White SW 7757 / Dark Blue: Honorable Blue SW 6811 / Blue: Dignity Blue SW 6804 / Light Blue: Flyway SW 6794 / Dark Purple: Dewberry SW 6552 / Purples: Fully Purple SW 6983 & Kimono Violet SW 6839 / Light Purple: Passionate Purple SW 6981

Painting a Galaxy Wall

2 | First paint your entire wall black. (Black of Night) – or have a really nice dad who offers to do it for you – thanks dad! After the black paint dries, pour a small amount of the darkest blue paint (Honorable Blue) onto a large square piece of cardboard. Use a photo for reference to (or randomly) apply the dark blue paint with a 6 inch foam roller.

H+S Tip When painting our murals we always use big sheets of cardboard to make it easy to mix the paint.

Painting a Galaxy Wall

3 | Before the darkest blue dries, apply all the paint colors that touch the darkest blue colors. By doing it before it dries, you can mix the colors organically with the foam roller.

Painting a Galaxy Wall

Painting a Galaxy Wall

4 | Start with the light blue (Flyway) in the center and move on to the darkest purple (Dewberry) at the top.

Painting a Galaxy Wall

Painting a Galaxy Wall

5 | Once the entire wall is covered with the dark blue, the dark purple, and the light blue, mix in the other blue and purple variations.

H+S Tip When blending the colors, overlap the colors at the edge.

Painting a Galaxy Wall

6 | Before painting the stars, let all the background colors dry for 24 hours.

H+S Tip The stars are great at creating depth when applied at varying brightness.

Start in the dark blue area again with the same dark blue paint but mix in a few drops of white paint. Then paint a variety of dot sizes all over the dark blue area.

H+S Tip The star paint should always be lighter than the background color and be the same hue. Blue stars go on the blue background and purple stars go on the purple background.

White dots can go anywhere on the wall but the light blue area in the center of the wall only gets light blue or white stars that are lighter than the background.

Paint a Galaxy Wall Mural

Paint a Galaxy Wall Mural

Isn’t it just the coolest!? The galaxy wall mural really takes a space themed kids room to the next level. Our son loves pretending he is in outer space by dancing around in front of this wall. As an added bonus the sun comes through the blinds, it creates a shooting star effect which is an added bonus!

Watch Our How to Paint a Galaxy Wall Tutorial

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Complete the Look

Looking for whimsical art to display in your space themed room? We made art for you! Browse our space art prints available in our Moon Rock Print shop!

Project Update 2023

Our son’s outer space wall mural still looks as cool as the day we painted it and so many of you have painted your own galaxy wall murals too. You have been rocking your murals! It makes us so excited to see. Keep making and keep tagging us @grayhousestudio so we can share your awesome work. We love hearing how you make the project your own. Below is a great tip many of you suggested.

H+S Reader Tip Use glow in the dark paint for the stars!

Keep on Making!
Courtney + Brent

46 comments

  1. Laura Nielsen

    Do you think I could paint this on a paint canvas?

    Reply

    1. Gray House Studio

      Sure! It should work the same for canvas. πŸ™‚

      Reply

  2. Julie

    Thank you so much for your tutorial. You gave me the confidence to tackle the project and it turned out really great!

    Reply

  3. Jackee Stang

    What kind of strokes do you use with the roller? Thanks!

    Reply

  4. Tracy

    I just found this a few years later, but was wondering when you are using the smaller roller, are you using 1 roller per color or using the same roller and just switch colors when the paint if off the roller. Do you wipe it off?

    Reply

    1. Anne

      I’m interested in the answer to that as well

      Reply

  5. Griselda

    What was the total cost on this wall?

    Reply

  6. Ryan

    What are the dimensions of your wall? Just curious about adding or subtracting quantity of paint. I have a 12′ x 8′ space that I’d love to paint!

    Reply

  7. Erin

    Hi! I would love to add a picture of this post to a round-up about accent walls! Please let me know if that is acceptable and I will make sure you a get a link back to the original post!

    Reply

  8. Alicia

    The reviews on the SW site for the Color To Go samples are saying to not use this as paint on walls. Did you use the color to go samples? What made it work for you? I guess I’m missing something. Thanks!

    Reply

    1. Lori Nielsen

      Its the same paint. I’ve used it on walls and furniture

      Reply

  9. Misty

    What brand of paint did you use. I know each brand has there own numbers for there colors so I wanted to get the right one.

    Reply

    1. Gray House Studio

      Hi Misty! We used Sherwin-Williams brand.

      Reply

  10. nevie

    some tips to make a pastel galaxy version???
    my reference: http://www.seekgif.com/download/pastel-galaxy-background-11874

    Reply

  11. Michele

    Can I pay you to do this for me? I have no artistic talent

    Reply

  12. Ryan

    I painted my daughters ceiling using a method heavily based on what you guys did here. It turned out great. I would like your permission to reference this post in what I did in my blog

    Reply

    1. Gray House Studio

      Hi Ryan! Yes, you have our permission to reference our post, just give us a link back to our original post. πŸ™‚ Thanks!

      Reply

  13. Samantha

    I came across this video and I fell in love. My son is super excited about space and has been dying for us to paint his bedroom. I have already painted the wall black and I’m super excited to try tomorrow to mix the other colors. You made it seem achievable and look amazing. I can’t wait to see how it’s going to turn out. I might be more excited than my son!!

    Reply

    1. Gray House Studio

      Hi Samantha- That is awesome to hear that you are painting a galaxy wall mural! I’m sure your son will love it. I love ours probably more than our son but he is only two. Ha. We would love to see how it turns out. Have fun painting tomorrow. πŸ™‚ Thanks so much for the kind words. – Courtney

      Reply

  14. Shelli

    Do you think you could mix some glow in the dark paint in with your white to make the stars glow? My daughter wants this wall but I think if I could make it glow, it’d be a fun surprise!

    Reply

    1. Gray House Studio

      Hi Shelli! We don’t have a lot of experience with glow in the dark paint but I don’t see a reason why it would not work. That’s a great idea!

      Reply

  15. Maria

    Does anyone know how i can make the colors glow in the dark? My kids all decided this is the color they want in their room

    Reply

  16. Jaci

    I would love to see what the other walls of the galaxy room look like. We are also just considering painting the galaxy on one wall. I was thinking of using one of the solid colors (likely a blue) on the other walls.

    Reply

    1. Gray House Studio

      Hi Jaci! We are slacking on sharing our playroom progress but the other walls are a light gray called Repose Gray by Sherwin-Williams. Our thought is to eventually frame this wall so it looks like the galaxy is outside the window. The other walls are the color of the spaceship. We will share pictures of the other walls soon. A blue would look great too!

      -Courtney

      Reply

  17. Kylie

    Hey guys! Beautifully done and explained! We just started (painted the wall black tonight) and are excited for the fun part this weekend. My question is, do we use the same foam roller for all of the colors to blend? Or use different foam rollers per color to keep a slight separation? Thank you so much! Sorry if this has been a question left multiple times by myself… darn interwebs ?

    Reply

  18. Kylie

    Heu guys! We started this tonight and are SO excited! The wall is black in anticipation of the painting that will happen this weekend. Do I use a bunch of different foam rollers (like, one roller per color) or use the same one to best blend the colors? Thank you so much!

    Reply

  19. Bethany

    Did you use a special tool for the stars? It looked like some sort of sprayer.

    Reply

    1. Gray House Studio

      Hi Bethany! Nope, no sprayer – just painted it with a roller and a paint brush.

      Reply

  20. Mike

    Would love if you could do this to my son entire bedroom as this is the theme he is wanting at our new house.

    Reply

  21. Christy

    Preparing to do this project soon. Newbie question: do you use a different roller cover every time you switch colors?

    Reply

  22. Lilliana

    I’m making a small galaxy room in my house, and that includes painting the walls and the ceiling. I have tried painting a galaxy on the ceiling but it hasn’t been working so far, but your instructions will help me a lot. Thanks for giving me the inspiration to try again!

    Reply

    1. Gray House Studio

      We’re glad we could provide some inspiration! It is no easy task that is for sure! We would love to see how your galaxy ceiling turns out. πŸ™‚

      Reply

  23. Emily

    Oh my gosh, my boyfriend and I were just talking about doing something new to our room. I think we have a winner. I love the way yall explained it. You just got a new follower:)

    Reply

    1. Gray House Studio

      Yay! So glad to have you following along Emily! We are happy to hear that you like our tutorial. We would love to see how your room turns out. πŸ™‚

      Reply

  24. Kim

    Im about to do this with my sons room! So nervous and hope it turns out!

    Reply

  25. David

    Very nice; I am going to give this a go in my kids room (thank you for making this seem achievable to a layman) just out of interest what did you do with the other walls and ceiling in the room?

    Reply

    1. Gray House Studio

      Thanks David! Your kids will love it. Since we are going with a spaceship theme, we painted the other walls a light gray (Repose Gray from Sherwin-Williams). We left the ceiling the white since the ceiling in that room is pretty low. We would love to see a photo of how it turns out. πŸ™‚

      Reply

  26. Sarah Perez

    This is great! And thanks so much for such a great tutorial, it has given me the confidence to try it! I have already painted the wall a satin black (perfect score from the oops shelf at Lowes) but I am wondering what sheen you used for the colors? Are the galaxy colors a satin or more glossy? Thanks again for the awesome tutorial.

    Reply

    1. Gray House Studio

      It is great to hear that you like the galaxy wall mural. Ideally, all the paint would be the same sheen. We prefer satin because it creates fewer reflections/shiny spots on the wall preventing you from being able to see the mural clearly. When you finish your mural please share a picture via email inspired[at]studiograyhouse.com or tag us in a photo of your finished project on social media @grayhousestudio on Instagram/Twitter or our Facebook page use #grayhousestudio

      Reply

  27. Anonymous

    This is so awesome and your tutorial has given me the confidence to try it! I’ve already painted the wall matte black but realized when I go to buy the colors….what sheen do you suggest using? Should they be satin or flat or glossy?

    Reply

    1. Gray House Studio

      Our suggestion would be satin because it cleans easier than flat but won’t create annoying light reflections like the high gloss.

      Reply

      1. Amanda

        Hi, planning on painting my three non-accent walls flat deep blue and want to do this galaxy look on one wall. Would you suggest doing all eggshell or satin (including the black base on accent walls) or going all flat to not contrast the other 3 dark blue flat walls?

        Reply

  28. Judy Hartl

    This video and step-by-step were extremely helpful.

    Reply

    1. Gray House Studio

      Thanks Judy! We are happy to hear you found it helpful! πŸ™‚

      Reply

  29. Diana Lord

    Love this!! I’m sure my son, Thomas , would love his room painted this way!! Hey, 20 year olds are kids too!! Haha

    Reply

  30. Barbara Lowell

    Thanks, I can see making this for almost anything, a wooden box, a tee shirt, a bathroom door, a wooden crate … what fun! Very well done and perfect colors!

    Reply

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