Oops, I Did It Myself.

 Our house has a lot of blank walls.  Hopefully that doesn't speak to the condition of my mind, but it probably does speak for my lack of decision making abilities...and also Matt's dislike of putting any holes in the walls.  

So, amongst other things, I've been wanting something for behind our dining table.  I used to have three 16x20(ish) size Ribba frames (from Ikea) here holding different coordinating fabrics.  However, our kids like to run circles around the table and inevitably a shoulder would hit a frame as they were running by.  It happened not only once, not twice, but three times.  If you've ever seen a cheap Ikea frame hit the floor, you know the end result.  All three of them busted at the seams.  We tried some gluing, but to no avail.  I learned a $45 lesson in picture placement (and quality), and for almost a year the wall has sat blank.

 I didn't want to just put up three new frames (like I said I learned that lesson), so I waited for something larger.  The nails were still sitting in the wall, so I wanted to be able to just use the nails to hang up a new picture that would span the space of the three previous frames.

I'll try to cut to the chase...art is expensive.  Even "cheap" buy-it-at-a-big-box-store art in the size I wanted was over $100.  AND it was hard to find something in the colors I wanted.  So, after seeing this on Pinterest, I decided to go the DIY route.

I bought a canvas at Hobby Lobby with a 40% off coupon.  I wish I could remember the dimensions, or muster up the energy to go measure it, but I went big.  I also went for the thicker one because I wanted it to be nice and beefy (and not look cheap).  It was still somewhat of an investment.  I think I paid $35 for the canvas after coupon.

I then went to the craft section and picked out four acrylic craft paints.  These were each a little over a dollar.  

Then later after the kids had gone to bed, I just went for it! I started with dark on the bottom.

I used a three inch paint brush and was very casual about it.  You don't even want to clean your brush in between colors because you want the colors to mix and blend together.   So, I would paint a little then walk away for a little bit and then come back...I remember it was game 7 of the World Series, so I had to keep checking on that.  Total time I spent on it was probably around 30 minutes.

Here's the final result!

  I wasn't even trying but both Ella and I observed that it looks like an abstract painting of the sea, land, and sky.  It's not perfect (nor is it suppose to be), and perhaps it's just hard for me to really love something I made myself, but the great thing is that it's acrylic paint and you can always paint over or do touch-ups if you wish.  What I do love about it is that I got to choose my favorite colors (shades of blue and green which are pretty beachy).  You could choose any colors you love to match your home.  I also like that it cost $40, so until our kids are all out of college and we can afford great art, this will do.

{side note:  For whatever reason while painting this I kept singing "Oops I did it myself" to the tune of Brittany Spear's "Oops I did it Again"...hence the title of this post.}