New Decor: 20$ Wall Art

Disclaimer: I've been trying to figure out how to write up this post for awhile because the wall art I made is heavily based on another person's work. I've decided that the best thing to do is be completely open about it and if the original artist wants me to take this down, then I will.  For the record, I'm okay with this post because I'm not ever intending to sale the wall art, its strictly for personal use.

I've been trying to find something to put over the couch for awhile. Our living room is very brown so I wanted some color. After browsing on Art.com I found this set and really liked it, but I just can't afford to spend 150$ on art right now. I had an idea to recreate this art with simple materials and cheaply.


I had this idea to cut some 12x12 wooden squares, paint them in fall colors, and then cut out standard white printer paper and  glue those on the wood, which is exactly what I did. I bought a four foot long 1x12 piece of wood and cut it into four equal pieces. I painted them with some acrylic paint, which surprisingly let the wood grain show through a little bit. After this dried I was a little disappointed with the colors, because they turned out a lot brighter than I hoped. I picked up an antiquing glaze at Lowe's and applied it to the wood. This stuff was magic. It rubs on as this dark green black oil but then when you wipe it off it leaves your colors looking aged. I started with the yellow board and almost was a bit worried when it was black green before I rubbed it out.  Once I wiped it off though, I really liked the look.

  

Before glaze, too bright

  

After glaze, much better!

For the silhouettes I made a pattern on the computer, printed it out and cut it out with an Xacto knife.  My plan was to use spray adhesive on the cutouts and then somehow get them to the wood and glue them on. I didn't have a solid plan here but accidentally discovered a neat method.  I had put the cutouts on some old cardstock before I sprayed the adhesive. Interestingly enough, the overspray was enough to hold the cutouts to the cardstock, which allowed me to easily transfer the cutout to the wood by just putting the cardstock on the wood, applying a little pressure and removing the cardstock. I'm pretty happy with the results.

After spraying with spray adhesive

I ended up hanging these with picture frame hanging wire. I just wrapped the wire around a machine screw, twisted it around, and then screwed in the screw. I did the same thing for the other side, screwing it in when the wire was pretty tight.  Here's a couple pictures of the process.

I hung these using a level and some nails and I love the result.  I really liked the final result and I'm keeping this idea around for future projects. 

Until next time, keep having fun!