DIY: Wall Art & Shelving in One
What to do when you have an empty wall full of blank space? You decorate it with art, family photos or creative shelving. I contemplated all these options, but found myself torn between art and additional shelving.
Most of the art prints I favored were too large, too colorful or overwhelmed the space, while others were just...bleh. Also, linear shelving seemed redundant and boring since there was more shelving below. What to do, what to do?
Blank wall space (photo taken on Easter 2019)....
And then I came across this 3-piece wall art (framing not included) on shein.com .
The colors fit the aesthetics of my space, perfectly! That it came in 3 parts meant I could fill enough of the blank wall without it being a space-hog to the eyes...and all for just $6! Into my shopping cart they went. And then it arrived; three gorgeous 8" x 15" fabric prints. The colors were vivid and lively, but there was one problem. Turns out hexagon shaped frames are hard to find and pricey when you finally come across one.
An alternate option was to buy a few basic frames and break them apart to create my own hexagon-shaped frame. And then one Saturday, after a run in the park, I popped into Family Dollar to pick up some toiletries, took a stroll through the home decor aisle to case the shelves for anything interesting, and voila!
Three frames to go with the three prints. They also double as shelving for the low price of $15!
The only issue was the flat tops of the framing/shelves meant I had to adjust the artwork to fit. There was also the issue of the various framing sizes. Easy fix!
I placed a shelf on top of each piece of artwork to block out the area I wanted in the background of each frame.
I cut around the outside edges of each shelf with an exacto knife.
I then applied a very thin line of tacky all-purpose glue to the edges of the artwork.
Pressed the flat rear edges of each shelf down onto the glued edges of the artwork cut-outs.
Left each frame to rest on artwork for about 12-24 hours to dry and cure.
An alternate (less messy) method would be to replace step 2 with tracing the outside edges of the frame with a pen, placing the tacky glue onto the flat rear edges of the frames and then pressing the sticky frames onto blocked area of the full art sheet; cutting the excess edges off with the exacto knife after the curing process.
The final results are below...
Needless to say, I'm ecstatic with the results. Artwork with an element of shelving (different from cubbies underneath) to display cute tchotchkes was the happy medium I didn't know I needed for the affordable price of $22 ($1 for tacky glue from Dollar Tree)
Credits:
Hexagon shelves (no longer available from Family Dollar)