By Julie Chai

From her powder room window, Mary Gustafson can see an enchanting garden dotted with Italian cypress trees leading to an endless vineyard. Farther out, far-off mountains reaching for a cerulean blue sky form the background for a village of white stucco buildings roofed in red tile.

Well, almost.

While the powder room in Gustafson’s Los Altos home appears to be made of aged stone looking over the Tuscan countryside, the room has actually been adorned with a custom, hand-painted mural by Los Altos artist Kim Domino.

“I love it,” Gustafson said. “It really adds character and personalizes the room, and we can carry the Tuscan theme throughout the house.”

Interior designer Jean Killelea commissioned the mural and said that many homeowners are choosing to beautify their homes with murals because of their uniqueness and affordability. Killelea spent many years in Los Altos and still serves Bay Area clients from her office in Bend, Ore.

“With murals, you can customize the size, color, theme and look and get more for your money than with other kinds of art,” Killelea said. “You can’t get a framed painting of the same size for the same price.”

In addition, murals’ versatility can solve a range of decorating dilemmas that other design options can’t. “Murals are applicable to so many different areas in a house, especially rooms with no windows,” Killelea said. “They can change the depth and dimension of a room or transport you to another place.”

Gustafson liked the powder room mural so much that she added murals to other rooms in her home including all three of her children’s rooms. One child, a sports fan, has sports equipment and uniforms painted in a corner; another has a rainbow over her head and a garden at her feet; the third sleeps next to a Hawaiian beach.

Murals enhance homes

A former public relations professional, Domino has been painting since she was 8 years old. She began painting murals professionally about a decade ago after friends saw her work and asked her to paint in their homes.

Domino explained that the practice of creating murals goes back to the days of cave dwellers who used murals to record their interests and activities. “They drew what was important to them and that’s no different from what we do today,” she said. “People still display their interests, set a mood or tell a story through hand-painted murals.”

Domino paints in the trompe l’oeil style, a technique meant to be realistic and fool the eye. Trompe l’oeil paintings can extend space, create a garden to enhance plain walls or add a window where there is none.

“Murals can change the environment better than framed art because they are immersive,” Domino said. “I think murals give a sense of character and richness that you don’t get from any other kind of art.

“Art should elevate your senses, and murals always give people an ‘aha’ experience. I don’t think framed art gets the same reaction.”

Domino added that each mural is a work of art and is unique to that moment. “People can put what they value on the walls which is evocative of who they are,” she said. “Isn’t that what people want with interior design?”

For information, contact Jean Killelea at (541) 948-4682 and Kim Domino at 903-3434.