Saturday, February 12, 2011

Pottery Barn Inspired Artwork for a Boys Room Done Cheap!

When I had my daughter we did a bit of musical rooms and ended up moving my son into my step-son's room.  The step-son went into the guest room and the daughter went into my son's old room... well you get the picture.  With the move, I decided to make my son's room a little more appropriate for a preschooler rather than a toddler but I of course wanted to do it as cheaply as possible and still make it look great.  I always look in magazines for ideas and inspiration and shortly after I decided on the re-do, the Pottery Barn catalog arrived.  Bingo!  I pored over each page trying to see what they were using to make the boy rooms look so good.  I kept seeing these great pieces of wall art that weren't available for purchase, they were just using them in addition to their own merchandise.  As I peered closer I realized that this great art was simply a shape cut out of an interesting type of paper (newspaper, scrapbook paper) placed on a neutral background and framed with or without a mat.  Lightbulb! I decided to make my own using the sports theme I already had going in his room and headed off to my local craft superstore.  Here is what I used to make the wall art.

White frames with mat for 8x10 photo
Tan scrapbook paper for background
Printed scrapbook paper for the objects
Razor blade with cutting board
Computer (for image ideas)

I used 5 styles of scrapbook paper and used 7 sheets total.  I used a plain tan for the background (1 for each picture so 3 total), a soccer sheet (I lucked out with this one because I didn't have to create a soccer ball - I just cut out the largest soccer ball from the center of the paper), a brown "woodgrain" style for the bat, a white with red laces border for the baseball and a red/white stripe with brown smudges for the football helmet.  I basically did a freehand drawing of each on the BACK of each sheet drawing and re-drawing the lines until I got it exactly how I wanted it.  I then used the razor blade to cut out the drawings.  The football helmet actually proved to be the biggest challenge but I googled "football helmet image/s" until I found one that I liked and then looking back and forth from the computer screen to my paper, I did the same draw and re-draw process until I got it the way I wanted.  The irony is, that in my opinion the football helmet turned out to be the best!

I chose sports but this could work using ANY theme, colors, frames, etc to fit a girl or boy room.
I could kick myself for not keeping my receipts but I've added up the total and I believe I spent around $10-$12 per picture.  Of course, I chose to do 3 which made the cost somewhere between $30-$36 but I could have chosen to do 1 or 2 and still have had the same impact for less money.
I love them and think they will be on his wall for a long time!  Or, at least until I get another idea...












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