Hi everyone!

I am a big fan of video games since I was a kid and my favorite game was - and still is - Mario Bros 3; as soon as my first kid born (he is 9 months now) I realized that his room will be a Mario Bros world. I decided this theme because involves brotherhood, imagination, magic powers, different worlds and many things I think my boy a other kids will love.

I didn't have experience in design, painting, applying decals or even cutting wood so I made a looot of mistakes but at the end, I got a lot of fun, experience and satisfaction by finishing all :o). In this instructable I paint a lot of things by hand and in other cases, I used decals to impove the decoration.

Hope this instructable helps build yours or give you some ideas any comments let me know, I will love to answer you anytime.

Kind regards,

Hector

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Materials you may need:

Blue paint: any light blue like: Blue wave, Aquiarius, Clear blue sky (Google like this in other to check the color) or for Sherwin Williams colors Codes you may check: SW 6953, SW 6952, SW 6794 check the color pallet here: Sherwin Williams color Pallette
Standard Brush 4”
Small Brush 1.5”
Masking tape
Decals (aka stickers, wall graphics)
Wood
Wood chisel (optional)
Scissors
Cutter
Glue
Ruler
Old newspapers
Screws
Screwdrivers
Nails
Containers
Flexometer
Leveler tool
Microsoft Paint software
Patience
Time!!!

Step 1: Design Your World

These are some ideas that may help you design your own world:

Get the idea of a world from the game: Google for example, world 1-1 super mario bros and you will get a lot of results with the whole world like a big banner. (Pic. 1) Transfer the idea to your room. (pic. 2)
Design each wall of the room as different levels: one wall world 2-1, other 2-2, etc
Use different items from the game: Make a mini world design by you using mushrooms, blocks, pipes, coins, etc. and spread around the room.

Once you have a clear undestanding of what you want, you can draw your idea in a piece of paper or copy pasting the images you need in Power Point.

Step 2: How to Get the Images From the Game (sprites)

When I say “Sprite” it means the image or drawing extracted from the game, could be Mario Bros figure, a cloud, a tree or anything from any stage of the game, to find them, just Google Mario Bros sprites and you will get a lot of results including all the "characters" of the game in one sheet (pic 2)

As you see in the images, there are a lot of “elements” from the game in just one page so, you have to extract the one you want (for example a brick) from the page and use it. Check out the bricks from the floor, these ones are made with just one brick and “copy and pasted” all across the stage. So we are going to do the same....How ?? Check next step...

Step 3: Using Sprites: Extract Sprites 1/2

To extract the sprite from the image pallet you have to use a program called Paint. This program is included in Windows as and accessory. Haven’t heard about it, no worries, check this route: Click windows start > All programs > Accessories > Paint > Click the paint icon (Sorry for the language is in spanish but everything is in the same route)

Above images show you the complete process in a better way.

Open Software.
Open Sprite. I assume you previously you check in internet the sprites you liked and saved in your hard drive.
The Sprite is already in paint canvas.
To see the sprite clear, adjust zoom to 200%.
Check if the canvas is in pixels (if not change it) > Click in the blue corner to open the options menu > Click properties.
A new dialog box will open with the image properties, click pixels if is not selected. Note: leave the lower boxes with width and height as default values you will use it later.
Zoom in to the see the sprites correctly (sometimes up to 800%). See, everything is like
in little squares (pixels), this will help you select the sprite you want in an easy way.
To pick the sprites use the Selection tool: Click selection tool in the upper menu > Select rectangular selection > Click the last option "transparency".
Use the selection tool to “frame” the sprite you want (all around) like in the image, in this case the star.
With the image selected, click copy in the upper menu or ctrl+C.
Open a new paint file like in step 1.
Check if the canvas is in pixels like in step 5.
Adjust canvas to the measures (width and height) you need for the sprite. Remember, we are doing this process to print later the images in the decals. Let's say we need to print the star in a 20 cm x 20 cm, to do so, repeat step 6 but, in the second dialog menu, changes from pixels to centimeters...you see 2 small boxes with numbers, there you have to put the width and height sizes you need (20 x 20).
Once you have the canvas with 20 x 20 cm, click paste in the upper left menu or Ctrl + V. After pasting the sprite, you see that is very small, don´t worry we are going to adjust it to 20 x 20 cm in a minute. Look the ruler in the upper right part of the canvas, all is in 20, that means that you have done correctly :) Note: If you cannot paste anything just came back to the first file, frame the sprite again and copy and pasted in the 2nd file.
Please note that every time you paste the sprite, this is pasted in the upper left corner by default with a frame and small white squares around (I zoom it to show you better). Well, we need to click this small squares to enlarge the image up to 20 cm or for better say, to the whole canvas that measure 20 x 20 cms.
To adjust the sprite, put the mouse in the right lower corner (you will see a double arrow once you select it), drag the sprite up to the border of 20 cm. DO NOT deselect or click anything, otherwise you will need to do it again.
To complete the sprite adjusting, scroll down the right bar to see the missing part, select the middle square and drag up to the end of the canvas. After adjusting the sprite you may realized that is very huge, don’t worry you will put this sprite in a huugeee wall.
Finally you will have something like the image.

Step 4: Using Sprites: Paint Background 2/2

Change color 1 (black) to white - or any color of your choice - by selecting color picker (small squares with colors)
Click in color 1 again, now with white color.
Select bucket too.
Paint the background with white by clicking the parts you want to color, in this example the purple ones.
Save as PNG file.
Now you have the sprite ready to print! Do this process with all your designs.

Step 5: How to Make 3D Shapes

Well, here it comes a great thing and it is make 3D shapes! actually one of my favorites because give an amazing sense of reality to the room with your favorite sprite.

Let's build the happy cloud :)...

Take the happy cloud sprite and print the design in a normal sheet of paper.
Draw lines with a pencil all across the printed sprite with the same size of squares (take the size of a square as a guide). This process will help you take the correct size of the sides of the cloud and put all together when building the 3D shape.
Cut all the borders like in the image.
Put the sheet of paper (step 3) in front of the material you want to use like wood, Styrofoam, foam, etc. and delineate all the shape. (I used wood in all the 3D shapes)
Cut all the excess in the selected material following the delineated pencil lines.
Do this twice, 1 for the front and other for the back.
Build the sides of the cloud and its thickness using the lines you previously draw as guides.
Once you have all the pieces: 2 faces, 1 upper, 2 lower, 1 middle, 5 right sides, 5 left sides total = 16 pieces glue it or nail it together.
Again, use the pencil lines (step 2) to paint the borders, eyes and mouth with black lines and/or the grey shades of the cloud.
You can use a wood chisel to improve details in wood like in the bricks (Pic. 9 & 10)
As recap......use this process for all the 3D shapes you need:
1. Select 2D sprite of your choice.
2. Print the design in a sheet of paper.
3. Eliminate the excees.
4. Transfer the design in the material you want like wood, foam, styrofoam, etc.
5. Cut the sprite from the material.
6. Glue or nail all the pieces.
7. Paint.

I used this process to build:

The happy cloud.
The big bricks.
The ? square.
The Beanstalk (green vine).

Step 6: Tips to Print Decals

Print decals

Once you have all the designs for the walls, you need to print them…..The sprites (images) will be printed in a vinyl sheet in a big printer, this is the same printing process at home with your printer but with different materials and equipment.

Some specialized stores (Google: “where to print decals”) have a full range of options to print your decals and have experts that will help you, just take all your files with the sprites and wait for the prints! Note: Some Office Depot has this service but sometimes is quite expensive.

Fee

Most of the stores charge you per 100 x 100 cm (or 1 squared meter) because this is a standard width of the vinyl roll; the length of the print depends in how many sprites you need to print. For example my project took around 100 cm width x 730 cm long vinyl sheet ;)

If you do not know how to put all the sprites in a same page to print, some stores will do this for you but may charge extra bucks as an extra service.

How to apply decals

This link give a great explanation How to apply decals
I received this tip from the printing store clerk: Apply hot air all around the decal with a hair dryer to activate the glue and help stick better in the wall. Be careful! and apply hot air 10 cms away from the decal spreading the air all around the decal for 2 mins. otherwise may cause burns in the vinyl.
The picture above shows how I made my decals, this image contains most of the sprites I used; have 100 cm height x 730 cm long. I printed 1 big sheet, cut each sprite and finally, applied each one all around the room as you saw in previous images.