DIY Wall Art

If you'd have asked me a few years ago, I would have told you that you hang pictures in frames on the wall.  That is wall art.  Period.  Over the years and with the help of Pinterest, I've broadened my horizons a little bit.

As we've been trying to fill the walls of a two-story house with the wall art we had from a small two bedroom apartment, we've been scrambling to find things, especially things that are large enough for our large walls.

1. Money from countries the hubs has visited.  He spent a lot of time on cargo ships roaming the globe, and we have lots of souvenirs to show for it.  One frame + paper money = wall art.

2. Scored a shadow box frame at the dump a few weeks ago, citing "just because".  We put a hummingbird's nest in it that the hubs found in the yard about a year ago that's been sitting in the basement.  It fits nicely on the right side of the bookcases.  It's so small you can put a quarter in it.  Wall art.

3. Our lovely bookcases arrived strapped to a double pallet.

Hubs: Can we do anything with this pallet?

Me: People make stuff on Pinterest with pallets all the time.

Hubs: Like what?

Me: Like furniture!

Hubs: (stares)

Me: I'll get the computer.

And we found this, which we thought would be neat in the living room over the couches:

We cleaned the pallet, hubs moved some boards around and added a little stain to make it rustic (We lost the original"rustic" when we cleaned it.  Apparently, rustic is caused by dirt). But then we just couldn't do it.  It just wasn't what we were doing with the space.  But we just couldn't throw it out.  Dilemma!!

Bottom of the basement stairs!  Framed photos + knick-knacks = wall art.

4. Gallery wall.  This was a thrilling result.  Hubs suggested using all black and white photos, so after editing a bunch, sending them off to Walmart 1-hour photo online, spray painting all of our odd frames black, and buying dark brown frames, we had a project on our hands.  It took three lists for me to be able to figure out what we had and what we needed.  I left hubs to do the hanging since he's more methodical than me.

Each one we chose was someone or something important to us that would also look good in black and white.  We're so happy with it.

We also have tennis rackets on one wall in the basement, and we'd like to do vintage board games on another, though that's another project for another day.

What have you been hanging on your walls lately?