Monday, March 1, 2010

My Ballard Inspired Wall Art

I love quatrefoils! I think it stems from my love and desire to own a piece of Van Cleef and Arpels Alhambra collection - so gorgeous!


So you can imagine my delight when I saw all the new items Ballard Designs decked out with these little gems.
 
umbrella stand


chandelier shade


Marquee Hand-Painted Canvas

Friday night I began thinking that I could probably knock-off that canvas. By Saturday morning I was full-blown obsessed and running out to Home Goods in search of a canvas that I could use to make my little dream a reality.

What I found was this:
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In the little girls section. It is 24x24 - the same dimensions as the Ballard. I paid $30 for it although I was hoping to spend $20. This was the best I could find and I was too anxious to keep looking.

Before I could paint, I had to get the glitter and rhinestones off. Scrape, scrape, scrape away with a craft knife. Look how awesome my hand looks!

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I found a quatrefoil lurking on my cricut storybook cartridge and used a piece of card stock to make a stencil. The Ballard piece has the quatrefoil in the center, but I decided to place one in each "tile". I sketched the shapes out and started painting each quatrefoil green, then a tan border and finally a pink background.

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When I was done, not only did I have a killer headache from not opening the window for good ventilation, but I hated it! Instead of the classy palm beach look I was going for - I had this tacky, cheesy 70s mess. So before going to bed, I decided that by changing the colors and enlarging the design I could save it.

Sunday morning, I got to work adding a white-wash over the pink to tone it down.

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Then I repainted the tan a darker brown and the green to blue.

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Much better! That is the calming, sophisticated look I was going for. I would have liked if the blue was paler, but I'm learning by trial and error here and I'm pretty happy with how this turned out - especially since I've never tried to replicate or just paint a canvas period! I added some lines with a sharpie to mimic the look of four tiles. This was $30 considering I already had the paints instead of spending $139.**EDIT** Whoa!! Just took a closer look at the pricing.  They are $139 EACH SQUARE or two for $129 each.  I would have had to spend $516 to get this look from Ballard!!!

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This project is part of my mini-bedroom makeover. I'll show the finished room later this week.

Linking up to the following:
So You Think You Can Decorate Viewer Inspiration
Room to Inspire: Be Inspired 
Finding Fabulous: Frugalicious Friday


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14 comments:

  1. love it heather!
    can't wait to see everything together!
    blessings
    patricia

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  2. I love it! I hadn't seen that on that Ballard site, what a wonderful copy you made of it.

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  3. Great job... we just did a mini make over of our bedroom this weekend!! Also, my daughter has the pink butterfly canvas in her room...you know the one you just totally destroyed..hehehe!! Cant wait to see more pics!! Have a great week!

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  4. Great project! I love the colors you selected.

    Chelsea

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  5. Next time, go to Joann's and buy cotton duck fabric and paint it with gesso to prepare it for paint. Next, hem it around the edges and begin painting. You should be able to make this canvas for under $10 next time!

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  6. This really turned out beautifully! I admire the fact that you did NOT give up...excellent! :-) The pay off was a beautiful, sophisticated piece of art for a fantastic price!

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  7. found your post over at SYTYCD, wonderful. Looking forward to seeing more

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  8. You are a woman with determination! I don't know if I would have wanted to finish after scraping off all that glitter. Great job! It turned out nice.

    Jennie @ Cinnaberry Suite

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  9. Love the blue, Heather! My first look through at Ballard and PB catalogs is to see what I can make myself now!

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  10. Thanks for linking your project up to Be Inspired today!

    Chelsea

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  11. What a great job! It's a high-impact piece for $30 and some paint. Well done!

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  12. Very cool! I love this shape too in home design. Although I have to admit I didn't know the name. thanks for sharing and for linkin' up to Frugalicious Friday!

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