A little DIY

It's been almost 6 months since months since we moved in to our new house and I'm still trying to get everything in it's place. Decorating is hard when you have no time and no money... and most of all, almost zero home design flair. Having said that, I think we've done pretty well at making it a home that we're comfortable and happy with.

I have been wanting to get 'just the right thing' for the wall in the dining area for what seems like forever. I have a vision of some great photo being blown up on one of those 3 piece canvas panel things. The problem with that is that for one they are expensive and two, I have yet to find a photo that will be just right. Then I remembered a friend who had the same dilemna and decided to paint herself something. The problem with that is that she's very talanted artisically where I am not.

I started perusing the internet for ideas and found this on Pinterest.

Source

It was pinned (is that the right term?) from a blog called The New Domestic. I loved it. It seemed like it would be easy to do and cost effective so I went to Michaels, bought the supplies and gave it a whirl. It's pretty simple. Just tape a canvas with painter's tape and paint what's left. Rip off the tape and you're done. They give detailed instructions here.

Here is my final product.

I would do a few things differently next time like not use spray paint because I think it would be easier and cheaper. It was cheaper but the extra work it took to avoid overspray (which I didn't avoid after all) and the wierd blotchiness you get if you look at it from the right angle isn't really worth the $20 or $30 more I would have spent using arcrilic artist paint.

BUT- I love it.

As a tip- I taped the canvas off then took a photo of it. I then used my Photoshop program to decide what color should go where. I'm not great at visualising the final product so this helped get it just right.

Thanks to Nerissa and Peter for the idea. Your blog is fantastic for decorating ideas and I'll be stealing more of them in the future.