Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Pottery Barn Inspired LOVE art {DIY Project}

Hey guys! If you are anything like me, you get a little giddy when your Pottery Barn catalog comes in the mail. I don't think I've ever actually bought anything from PB though; I just love getting ideas from that glorious magazine. This art project for my daughter's room was inspired by a canvas from a few years ago. Now that I am finally getting around to completing her room {see former projects here, here and here}, I thought she really needed a statement piece above her bed and this idea immediately jumped into my head. I absolutely LOVE how it turned out {see what I did there?}



I came up with the idea after looking through some old magazine pages that I ripped out for inspiration {please tell me I am not the only one with folders just full of magazine pictures}. This particular picture was from a Pottery Barn catalog.


I loved this patchwork canvas art but didn't have a place for it at the time. And now that I do have the space, they don't sell it anymore. Cue sad music. So, what's any good DIYer to do? Make it herself, which is just what I did. 


First, I found this amazing, ornate large frame {it's 35" by 23"} on a Facebook garage sale site. I picked this up for only $10, if you can believe it. 


I painted over the gold with some leftover Annie Sloan Old White Chalk Paint and I love how it turned out. Chalk paint can seriously paint over just about anything. 


After we hung it on the wall, using some heavy duty screws, I measured the inside of the frame to figure out how large my letters should be. 



Using my Silhouette program, I drew a rectangle the size of my frame and after I found the font I liked, I enlarged the words to fit within the rectangle. Once I was happy with size of the font, I printed out the letters {since the letters were so large, I had to cut them so they would fit on a page, then I just taped them back together once they were cut out}. 


I used my I-Beam Level and drew straight lines on the wall and placed my letters within the frame to make sure I liked the way it looked. Once I was happy with the placement, I ironed my fabric, traced the letters and cut them out. 


The fabric is Tanya Whelan's Sunshine Roses collection, which is the same fabric that Jill used in her DIY Fabric Hoop Art. Total coincident but just goes to show you why we love blogging together--great minds think alike. And apparently, decorate alike too. 

Now that my letters were cut out, I mixed up a batch of starch to apply them to the wall. I used the recipe recommended here which is:

1/4 cup cornstarch mixed into 1/2 cup cold water,
then mixed with 4 cups of boiling water


I laid down some plastic to protect the bed and used a cookie sheet and a paint brush to liberally apply the starch solution to the back of the fabric letters. 


Then, using the pre-drawn lines, I arranged the letters on the wall and smoothed some more starch on top of the fabric. I worked out any wrinkles and bubbles with my fingers. 

And that's it! I let it dry, re-hung the frame and my daughter has a truly awesome piece of art for her wall. 




The cool thing about this process is that the walls are not damaged at all and I can simply peel the letters off when I am ready for a change.

I plan on moving my littlest daughter into this bedroom eventually {she is in the nursery/guest room right now} and when I do, I will simply save the L and the E from the word LOVE and reapply them over each of their beds, since their names start with those letters. Thinking ahead, guys. That's what I do. 


I love, love, love how this project turned out and how simple it was to make such a huge impact in my little girl's Big Girl room.



1 comment:

  1. I love this idea! I even like yours better than the PB one. It's perfect because you can really change the colors and words to match any age. I want to try this in my room using black and white fabric:) Thanks for this idea!

    www.jenna-grace.com

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