Great decor doesn't necessarily mean you have to run to Pottery barn and spend huge chunks of change. As much as I love PB, there's an almost impossible relationship there that I'm unwilling to negotiate with and it has something to do with the exuberant pricing of their products. Let me not fool you though...I love their classic, casual design style and would give anything to host a living room like those found in their catalogs, but it's above and beyond my sense of practicality. Laugh. Plus, Ethan would have it disarranged and reconstructed to better suite his play habits - so much for that pretty self-made ten foot terrarium I thought about buying from PB the other day..cause we all could use one of those! J/K of course...laugh.
The purpose of my starting the post off in this way is because I successfully completed Ethan's wall art over the weekend and I'm loven' the end product! Some 100+ squares later and a tired sewing machine screaming for a new needle, the canvas is covered! Still can hardly believe it...thankfully, I had Ethan motivating me on. We constructed the board together as a team - mom took care of the trim work and sewing while Ethan managed the adhering {with some additional help} and application process. We spent both Saturday and Sunday working on it and then hung it on the wall last night! Now that I've had a chance to really look at this morning, I'm thrilled with how it turned out! I'm even more thrilled though that it didn't cost a fortune to make! To give you a general idea of what's required for this project, I've coordinated a quick supply for you:
Large Ordinary Canvas (Michaels/Joanns at 1/2 Price)
Twenty + Color Coordinated Patterned Papers {Produce into 4" x 4" Squares}
A Diligent Sewing Machine & Lots of Cotton or Polyester Thread
Sharp Scissors
A Paper Trimmer
Acrylic Paint & Large Foam Brush
Scotch Quick Dry Tacky Adhesive
Calculator/Ruler
The most costly part of the project is obviously the canvas, but with a coupon in tow, it shouldn't cost you more than $20. Everything else is probably stuff you already have on hand. The production process itself is fairly straight forward too {Three Steps!}:
1. Paint Your Canvas and Let Dry Overnight.
2. Trim 100+ Squares {Premeasure} and Sew Around the Edges of Each One
3. Adhere Squares to Canvas with Quick Dry Adhesive
Super simple and manageable on numerous levels, including the budget. In hanging this baby, I opted to create a mock-up of the board via tissue paper. I taped the tissue paper to the wall a couple of times to determine the best location for the placement of the board. I decided to semi-tuck it behind the headboard to bring both the bed and art together. I had tested the board "above the headboard", though it hadn't worked out because it sort of became an instant "fish in water" issue - it looked like it was floating in mid-air and I didn't quite desire that effect. Laugh. Maybe if the canvas had strong horizontal lines, the location would of been fine..but not in this case.
I've to rush away this morning. There's a Crate Paper Card Menu that I've to finish before this evening and if I've to wait a second longer, it'll never see the light of day. Laugh. See you guys a lil' later on! Happy Monday to ya! ~ CM
