easy DIY project – simplify the chaos

There is a DIY that I’ve done at least 10 times in the past two years and am currently doing once again as I tackle our bedroom gallery wall. It’s one of those projects that is so quick, simple, and easy that it almost doesn’t even feel like a project: printing digital downloads to use as artwork.

When it comes to making changes in your home, everyone has to start somewhere. If you’re new to DIY, this is a very straightforward and simple DIY that is perfect for beginners!

The first step is pretty obvious: choose artwork! I shared in this post some of my favorite places to find artwork and one of them was digital downloads. While it varies a bit depending on where you buy the print, in most cases once you purchase the print, you receive an email with instructions for downloading. I especially like that Juniper Print Shop gives you a few different ratio options so you can use the one best suited for the size print that you want!

Once I download the file, I’m able to upload it to whatever site I’m using to print it off. I’ve used both FedEx printing for large prints (bonus: I can do local pick-up within one day!) and Mpix for prints both large and small and have been really happy with the quality of both services. For this particular batch of prints, I chose Mpix and had everything printed on their Giclee Deep Matte Photographic paper.

While I have my fair share of frames from places like Target and TJ Maxx, one of my favorite things to do is find frames at thrift stores and use them in gallery walls. I can usually find frames between $1-$3 and that price is just hard to beat!

Sometimes I like the original finish of a frame, but in most cases, I rely on spray paint to upgrade the frame a bit. I remove the glass and the back first; if the back is hinged, I will use painters tape to tape it off so I don’t get spray paint on the back (which can make it tacky and stick to whatever is in the frame).

I love using Rustoleum spray paint and my go-to colors are matte black and Satin Bronze. I make sure to be in a well-ventilated area for spraying, and I’ll give the frame multiple rounds of light coats, making sure to keep the can moving while spraying so paint doesn’t pool in any one area.

Once the frame finished drying, I can pop in the print. I usually choose to remove the glass from the frame so there’s not a glare on the print.

That’s it! How easy is that? It honestly takes less than an hour of active work start-to-finish and the cost is usually pretty comparable to piece of mass-produced artwork from a place like Target. My budget breakdown was:

Digital Download: $18 (I got a small discount!)

Mpix Printing: $0.89 for a 4×6

Thrift Store Frame: $3.99

I already had the spray paint and painters tape (they’re staples I always stay stocked up on for projects) so my total cost was around $23 for this print.

I love that this DIY allows me to fill my house with artwork that I really like in my choice of sizes, styles, and frames. While the prints aren’t originals or one-of-a-kind, they still feel personalized and unique and bring just the right touch finishing touch to whatever room I’m working on. If you’re looking for a way to elevate a space in your house, this is a great DIY to try!

While I finished up the largest part of the kitchen renovation a couple weeks ago, there was one lingering area I had yet to address: the desk. Since the One Room Challenge starts Thursday and that will take most of my home project focus, I decided to spend time yesterday giving a quick and inexpensive refresh to this space.

This little desk area on the side of our kitchen used to be where I worked from home; however, once we completed our office, this space became an area for the kids’ creative activities. We store their playdoh, markers, crayons, stickers, paper, etc. here and they spend hours crafting, making sweet little messes, and stretching their creative muscles. Here’s what it looked like before we did anything to the kitchen:

I painted the cabinets a few weeks ago with the rest of the kitchen but hadn’t done anything else yet. It was time to finish!

A very realistic look at what the space is like on a daily basis.

My goal from this space was to make it feel cohesive with the rest of the house while still feeling like a distinct space for kids. The first step was removing all the stickers off the wall (lol) and then I painted the wall to match the rest of the main floor with one coat of primer and two coats Sherwin Williams Alabaster in Eggshell.

I wanted to have a cute way for the kids to display some of their artwork on the wall above the desk but didn’t want to spend money so I went searching through our house. I found some old 14″ x 14″ corkboards that had been in storage for years (leftover from a DIY project Justin made 6-7 years ago). I collected them from our garage and found some baker’s twine in my gift wrapping supplies. Since our kids are too little to use thumbtacks, I pulled the twine over the front of the corkboard and wrapped it around the back, securing it with masking tape. A simple and inexpensive DIY project that took less than 20 minutes for two corkboards!

I created a crisscross pattern over the front of the corkboard so now they can just slide their artwork in behind the twine and it’s easy to swap out creations when they want.

I attached the corkboards to the wall using command picture hanging strips. I love that these don’t damage the wall if I decide to take them down later, and the Velcro allows me to easily take the corkboard off the wall if I ever want to access the outlet behind (the kids don’t have a need for it, but it’s nice to know we can access it if we need to).

I finished off the space with an aloe plant and two thrifted containers to hold markers and crayons. Both the yellow container and the basket were $3 each at thrift stores, bringing the grand total investment spent for this specific area to $6. Not too shabby!

All in all, this little refresh took about half a day – and most of that time was dry time in between paint coats. I probably spent about 2-2.5 active hours working on it and while it’s far from glamorous, I’m happy with the result. The space fits in with the rest of the home but still feels distinctly like an area for kids. Both kids have already used it since I finished up and I foresee lots more creativity and fun memories happening right here!