Interview with Racheal Jackson
Photo courtesy of Racheal Jackson

Artist Racheal Jackson painted her first mural as a low-budget way to decorate her home.

Now she designs and paints colorful masterpieces for homeowners and businesses across the United States and her work is featured on the Magnolia Network home design show Artfully Designed.

Tell us about your show:
It’s based in Charlotte, North Carolina, and I stay there full-time while filming; my husband and kids join me as much as possible. I love working with my costars, Natalie Papier and Frankie Zombie, who are amazing at using color and texture—engaging in the creative process together feels like magic. I also adore working with the film crew. In another life, I could be happy as a production assistant running errands and helping behind the scenes.

Are you surprised that you’re on TV?
Thirteenyear- old Racheal, who watched the Christopher Lowell Show and wore her best clothes to Universal Studios hoping to be “discovered,” would tell you that it’s all part of the plan. The Racheal of five years ago with three children, a biology degree she wasn’t using, and a house full of gray walls, would be floored. Today, I’m delighted with the opportunities that come from putting myself and my work out there.

How did you start painting your murals?
I didn’t have a budget for wallpaper, so I got some sample paint pots and created my first mural by painting two full walls of diagonal stripes. Then I started painting murals in every room—I loved it because they changed the feel of the spaces so quickly. Soon after, a friend in Chicago asked me to paint a mural in her house and someone else in North Carolina hired me to do one for them. I’ve been jetting across the United States painting murals ever since. I painted fifty of them in one year, including a handful for myself.

What’s your creative process?
First, I’ll create the mural design in Adobe Illustrator. I’ll then transfer it to a wall using one of a variety of techniques. Sometimes I use a projector, a level, a pencil, and string; sometimes I employ a grid or a doodle method. On average, it takes me about one to three days to paint a mural.

Is your home filled with your artwork?
By the time we moved out of our old house in 2021, every room had at least one mural. But our new home required so much work before we could do the pretty stuff. I forgot the impact having strong focal points and good color on the walls can have. Going through the process of painting them has made me so happy.

What projects have you completed for your new home?
We completely renovated the kitchen. We installed red-oak cabinets with flat fronts that look beautiful and modern, added new terrazzo countertops, and bought new appliances, including a brown Big Chill stove that looks like it’s from the 1960s. We’re keeping our old refrigerator, but I probably will cover it with paintable wallpaper and paint it.

We added the same flooring in the kitchen and surrounding living spaces; it’s shiny white vinyl composition tile, or what you’d see in a Target or an elementary school. It fits the house. But to install it, we had to demolish our brick fireplace, which had a big footprint and was surrounded by orange shag carpeting from the 1970s. Once all that was gone, I built and tiled a faux fireplace to give us a place to hang our Christmas stockings.

We discovered it would cost about $10,000 to have the exterior painted, so I bought a $500 paint sprayer and $1,500 worth of paint and painted a few ten-to-fifteen-foot-wide stripes on our house in multiple colors.

The mural is so much fun, and the neighborhood kids love it. If people can’t find my house, I can just tell them it’s the one with the stripes. Exterior murals are always my favorites because they get great light and I can use punchier colors.

Did you give the kitchen in your prior home a unique look too?
I decorated one end of the kitchen island with my kids’ LEGOs; I wedged the pieces between some trim rather than gluing them. I loved its playful look. We sold the house with the LEGO design intact because the new owners wanted to keep them on the kitchen island. It just goes to show you that don’t have to be too serious with home design.

Is it a lot of work to get surfaces ready for your murals?
When I’m painting the exterior of a house, the prep work is exhausting. I have to cover all the windows and use my pressure washer to get the dirt off since it must be clean before I can start painting. But the prep work is minimal when I’m painting a mural on an interior wall.

How would you describe the style of your murals?
They tend to be geometric and abstract with hard lines. I also like painting colorful squiggles, botanical murals, and plaids and working with very bright colors.

Does your family also enjoy murals?
My husband might have preferred a neutral style for our home, but after living with murals for so many years, he loves them now. We painted his office, the first room we finished in our new house, a bright blue. He even added his own mural to it—it’s very stylized and colorful. My kids have also asked if they can paint their own. My youngest gave me sketches of the one he wants in his room.

For more info, visit banyanbridges.com