there is always a place and a time, i have to say that this is a mar miss... besides, i dont know of a single person who like being around seagulls, let along having two fake one hanging above the landing!

Since this is both a vacation rental and a stairwell, I think it's the perfect opportunity to do something fun and goofy with the space. You're not there [in the stairwell or the home] long enough to get sick of it. Yes, it's silly, but I think a light-hearted touch is appropriate in this case. I'd never be willing to live with it, though!

This is a VERY florida thing to do, unfortunately.

i really dislike the mural but i think the gulls are done in a cute way.

ugh! matching birds too, I see.. cause someone might miss the beach reference without them hanging up above... "Honey, is this a Martian landscape? Oh, no, wait! I get it! Look at the whimsical gulls up above! It has to be a beach scene!"
I wonder if there's a "naturescape" sound track that plays every time you approach the landing on the stairs? and, do the gulls start flapping their wings?
MUST our houses be Disneyland rides? Theme room here theme room there? Pirates of the Caribbean tracks playing 24/7 from the speakers hidden in the faux ivy and the Tuscan wine barrel in Tuscan-themed the kitchen?
I want to yak every time I see a design show where the "designer" says,"what theme are you looking for in this room?".

Wow that is UGLY. An embaressment. I grew up in Florida and I left. Ugh. Ugh. Ugh.

Not a fan of the mural. However, I do kinda like those birdies...

That is SO FLORDIA!!

Um that said, i think i'd like it if it were done less beachy...

No... no... no no no

Holy Moses! Um, a little on the kitschy side (okay... a lot).

The gulls on the heavy chain are a bit ominous. They look like some poor sadistic soul chained up their bodies for some reason.

But if you like it, hey. Whatever floats your boat, or, uh, chains your gull.

Ugh.
I actually painted a similar scene like this as a backsplash for the stove in my parent’s kitchen when I was 12 or 13. I thought they would keep it up for a year or 2, tops, but sadly, they have kept it for 15 years! They are finally redecorating their kitchen now and the mural is on the way out. Thank goodness.

chris_94131, i love you.

why must beach houses be so "themed"?

I'm all for making staircases more interesting, and murals can be cool if done right, but I don't think this does much for the space.

o hell no

Yeah ... no. Don't like the painting, don't like the birds, and what the heck are those things in the corners?

LOL, I think those are shells in the corner. Maybe. I cringed when I saw this. My mother has the same theme going on in her bathroom. Mural and 3-d elements hanging all over including a fishnet and shells. And the piece de resistance (probably didn't spell that right) is the ceiling light fixture painted as the sun. Everytime I use her toilet I have to close my eyes. Way tacky for me.

I really don't like the mural, but I think it was more the way it was done, than the idea. I like the idea. Just not the execution. It doesn't seem to fit the space.

okay, if it were in my actual house, i would want to vomit a little in my mouth each time i saw it. but in a beach rental? it would probably be funny for two weeks. especially when i'd been drinking! yep, yep. i just convinced myself; it's officially hideous and hilarious!

I've seen this in cheap seafood restaurants on the Atlantic coast.

Thair sea has no horizon, and there's a window floating in mid air that shows the real sky (for comparison perhaps?)

sorry , "their"

I LOVE the mural, but not the birds and shells.

tee, hee, hee. funny for a weekend at the beach but really could not take it for much longer. the mural, birds, & weird corner shells might work separately but together I imagine this is what hell would look like.

Maybe he/she could've gotten away if this wasnt on a stairwell

charming! though if i had this in my house my partners rugby league team mates would probably take the seagulls hostage... their football team are called the Seagulls...

~faints~

Colleen, if this mural didn't inspire a late night drunken Mad Lib with your friends, I will will be very sad.

Spent a long weekend at Amelia Island for a conference once, and kept expecting the giant beach ball from The Prisoner to come bouncing through the hypermanicured landscape, sentencing me to eternal kitsch. Help!!!!

so we've discovered that the strange things in the corners are cat statues- thought you would all want to know! ;-)

Colleen

The gulls are creepy. And yes, what is with the cat statues? I've never seen cats at the beach before.

haha Chris...I thought it may be 'charming' the mural...but after reading the posts....okay already!

"Beach" can work if it is not this literal -- perhaps a paint treatment that transitions from "sand" at the floor to "ocean" then "sky" at the top would be a better application. This is too much.

Oh, and are those cats or seashells on the floor?

I can't believe you're on AT and you're "not really sure".

Seriously Coleen?

super crazy tacky.

i can't believe someone actually posted this on AT. Seriously? This looks worse than my parents 1960s beach house that is still out dated. Murals are a no no. And in a stairwell...with real shells on the floor? good lord this is terrible. Where's the talking Billy Bass that should be hanging on the wall?

I think it is hilarious. I guess I just appreciate a large effort.

I love it. Beach house chic. (But get those things out of the corners!)

Exactly what I was thinking, it reminds me of a beach house, very soothing!

If those are cats in the corners, they're clearly facing away from the mural...for good reason!

I say not to the mural but hot to the gulls! Too funny!

I would never do that in my home, but I still think it's kind of cool, especially in the context of a beach house. However, they should have used a different method for hanging the birds, (or not included them at all).

My orthodontist, growing up, had a huge beach mural on one of the walls in his practice. It was hideous, badly painted, and had stupid looking umbrellas and furniture on it.

Thankfully my orthodontist was an awesome guy and that made up for it.