By Danielle Peterson

Bonnie disliked that her bedroom and bathroom remained white while the rest of her house was colorful, so she decided to take action.  Now, she loves the view—after she painted murals of a golf course and the ocean on her walls! 

“My husband is a golfer and I love the ocean and the pines,” Bonnie says. “I like to be connected to the outdoors, so it seemed like a logical decorating decision.”

Before starting her project, Bonnie bought a book on Trompe-l’oeil, an art technique from the Baroque period. The images are painted so realistically, they appear to be three-dimensional.  Bonnie studied the book thoroughly before beginning her first Trompe-l’oeil masterpiece. 

Bonnie began in the bathroom, first painting a sky, then a lattice pattern over it. Next she created a coastal scene on her door. Bonnie and her husband live three houses away from a golf club, but with final mural, it appears they live right on the course.

“I put our favorite things together and made a bay window and French door,” she says.

Though using the Trompe-l’oeil technique can be challenging, Bonnie doesn’t regret spending the extra time on her artwork. “I’ve painted many things over the years, but this was my first attempt at a Trompe-l’oeil landscape and I had many hours of pleasure working on it,” she says. 

See more photos of Bonnie’s project: photo 1 | photo 2.

Not ready for Trompe-l’oeil painting? See our get-started painting advice.