This project was a long time coming. When we first moved into our house 3 years ago I was so excited to paint this wall a dark chocolate brown and have it be somewhat of a feature in the room. So we painted it and we loved it but I could not figure out how to decorate it. I seriously disliked everything I put on this wall. It always looked great in my head and then, when executed, it looked like crap (for lack of a better term).
After finally watching enough home renovation shows and pinning enough DIY projects on Pinterest, I had a better idea of what I could do with this wall so that I would love it.
[PS - when it comes to DIY artwork, keep it as simple as you possibly can. Unless you are an artist, then go crazy. But for the somewhat-crafty like myself, simple is better.]
This was my end result.
So now, let me tell you how I put this wall together and how it was only $30...
This was a canvas print I snagged from a friend that was throwing it out (along with another few you'll see as you read more.) Originally it was a teal/brown geometric type print and I thought it would go perfect. When I brought it home I realized it was too dark. So I painted the whole thing a mixture of white and brown. Once that dried I hand drew an anchor (Hebrews 6:19 is one of my favorite verses) and then painted it black.
Cost: $0
The wooden "GRACE" sign used to be in my laundry room as lost socks sign and it kept breaking so I painted the entire thing dark turquoise then stenciled "grace" in white. And by stencil, I mean I printed out the letters, traced them and then carefully hand-painted it. I drilled 2 holes in the back so it could be hung.
Cost: $0
The Family sign was one of the wall pieces my friend let me have.
Cost: $0
The "M" was purchased 3 years ago from Michaels. It came white and I distressed it by sanding the edges and painting it with coffee. The frame was also purchased 3 years ago and was silver at the time (no idea why I thought that would go in my house). This I simply painted the same color as the "grace" sign.
Cost: $0
The bottom wood sign I made in about 5 minutes. With children awake. It's a piece of scrap wood leftover from a bench my husband built. I sanded it, stained it with the leftover stain. Sanded the edges again to roughen it up a bit. Then I painted the wooden "laugh" and "love" words. Those were originally purchased from Michaels and used for a different [outdoor] project and they kept falling off so they've been tucked away in my craft closet for months. I used hot glue to attach the letters and painted the periods onto the wood. I also drilled 3 holes in the back along the edge about halfway deep so the piece could easily be hung.
Cost: $0
The key on the top was a find at Ross (LOVE that store!).
Cost: $10
The burlap canvas on the left was another find at Ross.
Cost: $18
The canvas on the right was painted by the same friends throwing out the other wall pieces. She used more of an aqua color and it was a little to light so I darkened it with the same dark turquoise I used on the other pieces.
Cost: $0
The bottom "Home" sign was another steal from my friend.
Cost: $0
I'm wondering what kind of tweaks I'll make to it in the future but for now, I think I'm finally happy. And not bad, only spending $28. Go me! This wall ended up being such a resourceful project because I simply used what I had, altered what I'd been given, and bought two inexpensive pieces to tie it all together. The result is rather eclectic, clean, and very, very me. Side Note: I have a pretty big acrylic paint selection but when I have trouble finding the right color of paint at a craft store I go to the home improvement store and buy a sample of paint. It's usually about $4 and is quite a bit of paint. The dark turquoise paint you see above was from Home Depot.
Comments
Post a Comment