How to create easy DIY wall art projects for your home with unique pieces.
Finding things to decorate your walls with doesn’t have to be expensive and, if your anything like me, you like your decor to be something a little bit different anyway. Who wants to have what everyone else has? You can actually save money and create something unique by using unexpected items to create your own art. I love industrial, farmhouse style so when we headed to the Brimfield Antiques Show I was on the hunt for some cool things to hang on my walls to create easy DIY wall art projects.
I had seen a few really cute ideas on Pinterest where people had framed different things. I found tea towels, grandma’s jewelry, pages from children’s books or nature books, items from nature like leaves and flowers, scrap book and wrapping paper, and the packaging from different products. This one is from a new blog I found, Little Glass Jar, and is one of my favorites. Here she framed a milk carton.
Here’s another example of a DIY art project from At the Picket Fence using tea towels from Target.
So on to my latest framing project. I decided to frame a coffee sack in the picture above. Since the coffee sack only cost me $5, I didn’t want to spend a fortune on a frame. I tried finding one at a thrift store, of course, but couldn’t find the right size. I picked this one up at AC Moore for $30 using a %50 coupon. I would have liked to have a custom frame done but that would defeat the whole purpose of DIY and keeping costs down.
In order to get the coffee sack in the frame we needed to take it apart because only one side would fit. I have to admit this was no small task. It was harder than I anticipated and fragile in some areas.
After both my husband and I worked on it for awhile we finally got the stitching loose. Unfortunately, the writing was not centered on the seams so I had to fold it a bit to get it even on both sides. It was still too big so I had to cut it down. I used the glass to measure it out exactly and traced it around with a sharpie.
Once I cut out around the lines, I had the final piece that would fit in the frame. It was really hard getting it to fit evenly so I tried laying it out on the cardboard backing and the putting the frame on top, pushing the glass up from underneath and then bending the prongs that hold the picture in from behind. All was going well until the glass cracked because I forgot to bend one of the prongs back all of the way. UUGGGGHHHHHH!! Fail.
Plan B. I could get more glass which meant more time and more money. Do I even need glass? So I took the cardboard backing and spray glued the coffee sack to it. No glass required! I like it just as much…..
Easy DIY art for your home…
Creating your own art is easy to do if you try to look at things in a new way. What is your next project? Do you have something unique in mind that you can frame?
Hi Colleen, I love your framed scissors and keys. I have a wonderful collection of old brass skeleton keys, given to me by my father-in-law. After my Grandma passed away, I found four metal decorative vintage shoe hooks or lacing hooks. (for lacing women’s high top boots in the 1800s) I would like to display both collections in frames. My only problem…my home is decorated and furnished entirely in mid-century modern, our home is mid-century modern. I can’t figure out how to incorporate them into my mid-century mod vibe. They’ve been in a drawer for years.
Hi Judy! Thanks so much! Can you frame them in a more modern frame (simple, clean lines) in similar colors you have in your home and work them into your decor that way?
Hi Colleen, I love your framed scissors and keys. I have a wonderful collection of old brass skeleton keys, given to me by my father-in-law. After my Grandma passed away, I found four metal decorative vintage shoe hooks or lacing hooks. (for lacing women’s high top boots in the 1800s) I would like to display both collections in frames. My only problem…my home is decorated and furnished entirely in mid-century modern, our home is mid-century modern. I can’t figure out how to incorporate them into my mid-century mod vibe. They’ve been in a drawer for years.
Hi Judy! Thanks so much! Can you frame them in a more modern frame (simple, clean lines) in similar colors you have in your home and work them into your decor that way?