Create some art for those bare walls
Published 11:24 pm Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Some walls beg for art, but we don’t have to give in and buy it.
With a little ingenuity, do-it-yourselfers can have chic artwork. And not just any slapped-together art, mind you, but pieces that guests will rave over.
It can be done in hours with very little money. Home-design experts are brimming with DIY ideas to help anyone strike out artfully on their own.
Designer David Bromstad, who creates wall-art magic as host of HGTV’s “Color Splash: Miami,” shares a few, basic pointers: Keep it simple. Have reasonable expectations. And copy, copy, copy. After all, beginning artists learn from copying the masters.
French artist and textile designer Lola Gavarry takes the fear out of painting with her book “DIY Art at Home.” Templates are included for some of the 28 featured projects, each of which offers a simple, contemporary design element.
Gavarry walks DIYers through each project, and the steps are amply photographed.
Make art
Buy several inexpensive canvases and acrylic paint. Consider using a high-quality, latex house paint. Choose a simple design, such as stripes or geometric shapes, or paint each canvas a different color.
Hang the canvases like an installation — randomly, or in rows.
Allow a child to paint her own canvases, then hang the results like a headboard.
Use lots of canvases and hang them like wallpaper, David Bromstad suggests.
Take a black-and-white photograph to a copier store and have it blown up several feet wide and copied on oversize blueprint paper. As it enlarges, the photo will pixilate, adding interest.
Paint directly onto a wooden pallet, alternating colors on the wooden slats or go with a simple design, such as a flag. Display collected dishes among the slats, suggests Rachael Liska of Fresh Home magazine.
Hang color-coordinated tea towels on a cord or wire, or frame vintage cookbook pages or favorite restaurant menus.
Frame a square of high-quality wallpaper and set it on an easel so it resembles a work of art.
Stretch fabric across a canvas frame and staple it on the backside.
Decorate a child’s room with decals or “wall tattoos.”
Hang a collection of mirrors or flea market finds that are unified in some way: style, frame color or size.
Plates or silver trays make artful installations, Danielle Claro, Home editor for Real Simple magazine Claro says.
Frame and hang multiple pages from a single, artful book, in a grid or a straight line.
