Home Decor: DIY Modern Wall Art

 

This week's party continues here. Today I wanted to share an easy DIY Modern Wall Art piece. This was done for our second bathroom. Mr. Chocolate is more a fan of copper than I am despite the fact that we live in The Copper State and I wanted to honor that. This was a different style for me but I had a LOT of fun doing it and it was super easy. 

Supplies: 

• 16x20 Black Canvas
• White, Grey, Copper Acrylic Paints
• Paint Scraper Tool
• Brushes
• Paint Pen

I stock up on canvases when Michaels has them on sale so I picked up this 5 pack some time ago. The only think I bought for this project was the Folk Art Metallic Copper Paint (Walmart $1.97)

Since the canvas was black which went with my color scheme, I didn't do a base coat. 

After checking out a few videos, I just went for it! To start, I made a grid of dots with the white paint, then used the paint scraper to rough out a rectangle. 

Since this was an abstract / modern look, I didn't go for perfection. I let the paint dry so it wouldn't bleed then did the same process with the grey paint. 

As with most things I make, I just started playing around with the space. Once the grey was dry, I added the copper using the paint scraper. Then I switched to brushes to add some lines and fill in some spots. I also dry brushed white over some of the grey parts as shown.

Finally, I got out a black paint pen and drew some freehand lines. When I showed it to Mr. Chocolate, HE LOVED IT! 

See? We don't even have a hand towel in this bathroom yet but I had this idea in my head and...priorities! 

I think it works well with this print we've had forever!

Sharing At: 

BFF Open House

 

Happy Friday Eve Creative Peeps. Hope you've all been having a great week. We continue to get settled in our new home and found some time to update a few thrifted pieces that work with this new aesthetic. Shared how I combined Traditional and Modern Decor with just a little acrylic paint and Rub N Buff! 

Let's take a look at some of the great ideas shared at last week's party! 

All the way from The Netherlands, we have these fun earrings from Mooisvanme using mirrored crystals and fiber. Pretty! 

Condo Blues shared a wonderful idea for something I really would like to do, even here in the desert:  a Self Watering Herb Garden! 

July will always be "Harry Potter" month for me and I love how all these years after the series concluded people continue to find ways to come up with new creations inspired by it. For example, these DIY Flying Keys from Creatively Beth! 

Finally, "When Harry Met Chocolate" to play with a couple of movies. A second HP inspired creation comes from Artsy Fartsy Mama with these Resin Chocolate Frog Earrings. So cute! 

These won't leap away. 

Thanks to all who linked up and now let's see what everyone's been up to this week! 

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Home Decor: Blending Traditional and Modern

 As I've mentioned, our new home is very modern. And while it would be fun to buy all new things, I live on a planet called Reality. Plus DIYing and making things over is what we do. Our prior homes have been more traditional and I wanted a way to make some pieces I still love fit in with this more modern aesthetic. Plus, it's better for the environment as well as the wallet to re-purpose right? These pieces were already thrifted finds I'd painted once so painting them again was no big deal. 

These were some candleholders I found several years ago at Goodwill. They didn't match so I painted them to match and painted them again! 

We have a lot of black accents in this house so I started by painting them with a couple of coats of black acrylic paint. I still love a vintage look so I didn't leave them solid, and dry brushed them with a little bit of white. 

To finish, I used Silver Leaf Rub N Buff to accent some of the raised areas to make them pop. Originally, I thought I'd re-do the candles too. They're decoupaged onto the candles but the powder room also has a wood cabinet and I decided I really liked how they went with it. 

I also knew I wanted to place a small table I'd also previously thrifted and painted. Again, I wanted to emphasize the black but again, I still like my vintage / distressed look. 

I originally painted it a light tan with white drybrush. I painted the legs solid black and  for the bottom did a crackle effect with white using my tried and true white glue crackle technique. 

I applied the same Rub N Buff around the edges of the top and shelf of the table. We had a Longaberger basket we bought years ago that matched the cabinet as well as a beautiful wood bowl from my husband's family that I thought would be perfectly displayed on this table, and the black captures the essence of the sink. 

I feel like the silver accents on the candleholders and table work well with our floors, the black and white with the sink, and the browns with the cabinet! We added a couple of black storage baskets from Target to hold extra supplies like toilet paper. I'm really happy with how it all came together mixing traditional and modern. 

Sharing At:

BFF Open House

 

Well Hello, Creative Peeps! I hope everyone had a peaceful Fourth of July. One thing I love about where we are now is we heard NO fireworks. Last year was a nightmare between professional and amateur noise that sent our big girl into a loud barking frenzy. Not scared, just telling everyone what she thought which is cute the first time but not when people don't know when to quit at 3AM. But I digress. 

Back in the saddle with features this week and I even had a chance to make something! Actually two things so far, only one of which I've posted yet. See how I modernized a ceramic candleholder to fit with our new home here: White and Silver Cactus Candleholder Makeover

I haven't been in any craft stores in a few weeks so I'm predicting by the next time I go I'll see Halloween and maybe even Christmas. Time will fly from here on out. Let's take a look at some of the things you've been up to lately! 

I haven't made any jewelry lately so these beautiful Boho Bracelets from My French Twist caught my eye. Aren't they pretty?!

Speaking of Halloween supplies, start being on the lookout now for this Witch Hat Frame at Dollar Tree. The Apple Street Cottage has a great way to transform it into an Ice Cream Cone themed piece, perfect for Summer. 

I just love this idea from My Thrift Store Addiction to add both nature and lights to an outdoor space with these Vine Light Covered pieces! I can see the Faeries coming to them now. 

Finally, how about this delicious looking Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie from Scratch Made Food for Hungry People? Yes please! 

Thank you to everyone who linked up and your patience with no features for the past few weeks. Now let's see what amazing feats you've been up to this week! 

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Easy Home Decor Update: White and Silver Cactus Candleholder Makeover

 

Woo Hoo I did a project! After weeks of packing, moving, unpacking, I stole a little time to make something for our new home. We are getting there and have almost everything unpacked and put away. I have so many things I want to do but this was fairly quick and easy and I'm thrilled with the transformation. 

Supplies: 

• Ceramic Candleholder
• Acrylic Craft Paints

It doesn't get much simpler than this project but the transformation is night and day. We love saguaros. The one thing we knew when we left the Pacific Northwest with all of the majestic evergreen trees was that we needed to be able to see and/or be surrounded by saguaros. They're not as "everywhere" here in AZ as you might think with lots of farm and ranch land having been cleared and then used for home developments. We're thrilled that we have them around us everywhere now. 

I get to look at this big boy from my new craft room window! OK back to my project. We bought this candleholder a while ago and it was in my husband's office and I forgot about it until we were debating whether to keep it before we moved. I immediately saw an update in my head so it was a keeper. 

There was nothing wrong with it but the house is very modern, bright, and lots of gray and white so I thought that it could use a little updating. I applied a couple of coats of white acrylic paint to make sure none of the green still showed through. 

I almost left it all white but knowing where I wanted it to go, I thought a little gray or silver would be perfect. I used Folk Art's Metallic Silver Sterling to dry brush the ribs and arms. It takes a saguaro about 75 years to grow ONE arm! So the one I can see from my window has been around a long while. I just went down each rib and each arm with a light dry brush of the silver. I always keep a baby wipe handy in case an area gets too much paint. 

You can see there are some indentations in the candleholder as well so I dry brushed those to give it some depth and texture. It goes perfectly in our new kitchen. Just have to get a candle to put on it now! You might remember I painted my knife block a little while ago. You can see it on the counter by the stove in the background. 

VERY happy with how it turned out and glad we saved it. 

Sharing At: 

BFF Open House Oops!

Happy first day of July and Happy Friday. Our move is complete ( except for the unpacking fun but I have my kitchen mostly set up) and with wrapping up some things at our former location I forgot my own party! This will hopefully be the last week w/out features. If I said that last week, chalk it up to aggressive optimism! 

Apologies for the delay and let's get right to it! Wishing everyone a safe Fourth. 

 

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