For the Love of Coordinating Prints
I love prints in home decor, but making multiple prints work together well in a small space can be a daunting task. The way to make it all work well is to coordinate prints in the same colors, instead of making everything match. That way, everything coordinates, but no one pattern overwhelms the space.
The Living Room Issue
We recently moved in to our tiny vintage home. The main entrance puts you right into my little living room. The walls are completely wooden and light green. Wallpapering them was not an option. Everything was very plain and a bit austere, so it was time to seek a way to transform this small and austere space into a warm and welcoming one.
I also wanted something non-permanent because I like to change out the look twice a year. It is something I have always done. I have a Spring/Summer set of coordinates and a Fall/Winter set. One day, I may have a set of coordinates for each season, but twice a year seems to work for me.
Tips from the Blogosphere
I went out searching for ways to add some life to the walls in a non-permanent way, and ran across ‘How to make fabric panel wall art’ from Jessica Jones at How About Orange. I am not crafty, but decided to give it a try.
What I Ordered
On the walls, I chose ‘Linoak on Second’ from Libby Unwin: it has a modern sophistication and is very cool at a large scale. For the throw pillows, I chose ‘Maven’ from Khristian A. Howell—wonderfully exuberant and makes me smile every time I see it. I kept the colorways the same for both to unite the patterns.
How Did it Go?
My project took about an hour and blew my friends’ minds. Maybe I have shut-ins for friends, but they were impressed by my design skills and handiwork none-the-less.
When you have a front entry that leads directly into your living room, that main wall is so important. It is the way you welcome yourself and your guests into your home every time you enter. I am happy with the results: personalized in my colors + professionally made = home bliss.
Living Room at Night
Daytime: Living room with coordinating pillows & wall art
How to Make the Wall Art
Now, on to the how-to.
First, lay out the materials you will need. I used 20″ canvas stretchers (from my local art supply store), a hammer (to pound the stretchers together), heavy-duty staple gun, a measuring tape, and a level.
Next, assemble the stretchers. When pounding the canvas stretchers together, make sure they are square: measure the corner-to-corner distance to ensure squareness. Because the squares are relatively small, we did not need braces.
The materials for the wall-art project
The Fabric - 3 Pieces, all the same, with my name on it!
After the stretchers are assembled and square, you are ready to stretch the fabric. If you are using Alluminare custom fabric, the squares are all laid out for you in advance. If you are using other fabric, you’ll have to cut it to size (24″ for 20″ stretchers) and center it. It was so easy to do with the pre-positioned and pre-cut fabric from Alluminare. (Notice, scissors were not on my list of supplies!).
Place the fabric under the stretchers and center it. If you have 24″ of fabric, you’ll end up with about 2″ on all sides.
Fabric under the stretchers
Then, staple the fabric all around. I alternated sides as I stapled, for an even pull on the fabric. Do all of your panels like this first, then attack the corners. If you have misaligned anything, it will be easier to disassemble and fix it before moving on to the corners.
Staple the fabric to the stretchers
Fabric stapled all the way around the frame
You’ll notice a little slack on the fabric in this picture. After I took this photo, I pulled the fabric a tad tighter.
Next, the corners. There are a lot of good videos out there on how to do gallery wrapped corners. I watched them, but have to say, it still was a challenge, so I did the best I could after watching this video:
Stretching canvas- the tricky corners
Finally, hang them. Here’s Eric doing the hanging for me:
Eric Hangs the Wall Art
How Much it Cost in Cash
1. Wall Art: each one was 2′ x 2′ of fabric. The price per square foot is $7, so each panel was $28 of fabric. The stretcher bars (the frame) cost $12 for each panel. So each panel was $40. Total for all 3: $120.
2. Pillows: I bought them during one of our sales for $67 each. Total for both: $134.
3. Shipping: $28 for everything.
How Much it Cost in Time
The fact that I didn’t have to cut and center fabric was HUGE. It would have been a nightmare if I had to find a large print fabric, cut out the right amount in the right places, and then try to get it centered. With my fabric already cut and perfect, I didn’t even have to pick up a pair of scissors and it all lined up right.
It took about 30 minutes to decide on fabrics/colors and 1 hour to make it all happen. 90 minutes total.
Am I Happy with the Result?
Of course! I love that the fabric was personalized just for me, but I got to colorize professionally made patterns by artists such as Khristian and Libby. I know that the patterns will look great no matter what. And everything coordinates perfectly. I plan on adding another pattern into the mix soon.
If I had used some other fabric for this project it may have cost less—depending on the fabric. But because I am uncrafty, it was tremendously important that the fabric was pre-cut and perfect. It would have cost a lot more in shame as the project sat in a corner of my office mocking me for months to come because I couldn’t carve out the time and nerve to make it happen
If I can ever be of any help to anyone taking on this project for themselves, feel free to comment. I promise to respond with any help I can offer.
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