Art Wall

I’ve been wanting a spot to display some of my son’s artwork for a while now. A more defined spot than the front of the fridge. I started a board on Pinterest to “collect” the various ideas I liked to inspire my art wall.

I chose the corner of our dining room where his little Ikea LÄTT table & chairs set sits as the wall space to use. With the limits of that space as my starting point, I narrowed down ideas to a simple frame & bulldog clip combo.

Digging around in a bin of donated frames at our nearby thrift store, I selected 3 based on the details in the frames. (And I “splurged” a little more on my son while there getting him a new raincoat, rain boots & the book pictured below – I had really good luck that day!)

Once home, I took the frames apart and wiped them down. Then primed the frames and the particle board backing (finding some with those nice board backs was a huge plus!). After the primer was dry, I painted the frames using leftover green paint from the refinished cabinet in the opposite corner of the room. The backs I painted with the wall paint so they would “disappear” when hung. Then I hot glued small bulldog clips from my scrapbooking supplies to the top center of each.

I hung the frames based on where the previous artwork had been and high enough to keep little hands off of them. I’m liking the grouping of 3 but would prefer 1 or 2 of the frames to be bigger so I’ll be keeping my eyes open during future thrift shopping. For the moment though, I’m quite pleased with the look and my son is enjoying seeing his art work there. As I rotate the pieces out, I’m photographing them for a book I’m working on that will contain all of his artwork for 2011! I’ll share some of that once it’s completed in the early part of next year.

All in all, this project cost me under $4! I only had to buy the frames. The primer, paints and bulldog clips were all items I had around the house.

Supplies: frames; Kilz primer; Paints – Valspar #318-6 Shubbery and 55% tint of Valspar #348-2 Offshore Mist both mixed in Olympic no VOC base; hot glue; Making Memories bulldog clips.