easy, cheap, beautiful wall art...

So excited to share my latest home project with you!

In the hallway leading to the living room, we have this small alcove which holds our electrical panels.

Electrical panels are not exactly what I want to be looking at from the couch, so I quickly got to thinking about options for covering them up.

We thought about putting in something like a large armoire or shelving to cover them up, but then they wouldn't be easily accessible in case of an emergency.

Then I had the idea of buying artwork large enough to cover the panels, but I couldn't find anything I was crazy about in the stores, and for artwork that size, the price tag was definitely an issue anyway.

So what does anyone do when they need an idea for a design dilemma?  Why, head to Pinterest, of course.  That's when I found this tutorial and came up with a plan for something that would be practical, yet beautiful, and meaningful to us, too.

Here's the solution I came up with...

...an easy diy canvas project that perfectly covers up the electrical panels!  Waalah!  The panels are hidden yet still accessible simply by pulling the canvas off the wall.

I wanted to paint a quote that was meaningful to both our family and our new neighborhood.  Marc and I thought this sentence from MLK's "I have a dream" speech couldn't be more fitting and perfect.

As a funny aside, Caroline wrote this out the other day:  (click on it to make it larger- it's so great!)

"When M.L.K.J. was alive, white people and black people were not together.  ML said 'I have a dream that little black boys and little white girls will be hand in hand as sisters and brothers.'  That's how me and Jameson became sister and brother."

Ha ha!  Love it!

So once I painted my 36 x 36 canvas my base color (2 coats, I chose a light khaki/cream) and picked out my quote and what font I wanted, it was time to project it onto the canvas.  We used a computer hooked up to a projector.  I propped the canvas on my kitchen counter and tilted the projector to make the words at an angle.

Using an acrylic paint marker, it was easiest for me to outline all of the wording first, and then over the course of the next few days, I worked on filling in the lettering by laying it on the floor.  (if you read the tutorial, I tried doing the metallic part that she mentioned, but it kept stopping up my paint markers, so I gave up...)

I think it turned out great!  It's exactly what I wanted.  Caroline says she REALLY likes it and she can hardly believe her eyes.

So cheap (especially using a 1/2 off coupon on the canvas).
So beautiful.  (I'm proud of myself!  I made that!)
And so meaningful to our family.

It was so easy, maybe I'll think about doing another one upstairs...

Now I absolutely love my view from the couch!