A new school year is here. What does that mean? Lots of new artwork from your kids!
What do you do with all of your kid’s artwork? Do you put it up on the refrigerator? Do you have random piles of it stored in a closet somewhere? Or, do you throw it away *gasp*?
Here’s an easy and cheap DIY solution to display those works of art and swap those masterpieces out as needed.
What you’ll need for your DIY kids art display:
- Old picture frames
- Picture hanging kit
- Spray paint
- Hot glue gun
- Clothespins (or something else to hang the artwork with)
- String (or you can use the wire from the picture hanging it)
- Pliers or a flathead screwdriver
- Hammer
My mom keeps everything.
I wouldn’t exactly say she’s reached hoarder status, but she has a lot of older stuff. So she was my first stop when I knew I needed some old frames. After I picked out a few larger frames she had, I made my way to a couple of local thrift stores to find the rest. I found a brand new frame and a couple of used frames for about $10. All the frames I used are 11×13 or larger.
I removed everything from the frame – the glass, matting, backing, and anything like staples or small nails. Staples can easily be removed with pliers or a flathead screwdriver. The only thing I left on the frames was the hanging part, but not every frame I had came with that.
Once I had only the frames remaining, I figured out how I wanted them displayed on the wall. When you have that figured out, you might want to take a picture so you don’t forget. Now is where you will decide what color your frames will be if you use more than one color to paint them. I used two different colors that went well with the rest of the decor in the room.
After wiping down all the frames to remove dust and such, I took them to the garage to spray paint. You’ll want to spray the frame at different angles, so everything is coated. I even painted the backs, just to be safe.
After the paint is dry, you’ll need to add any hanging hardware to the back of the frames if the frames that didn’t already come with that. This is where you’ll use your picture hanging it.
Once the hardware is placed, you can hot glue your string or wire to the back of the frame.
When that’s dry, you can hang the frames on your wall and attach the clothes pins or whatever you are using to hang the artwork with. Now you just have to pick out what you want to display!
We have a very large living room and no playroom, so our couch isn’t up against a wall. There’s a good 8 feet between the couch and the wall, so we use that area to keep most of our son’s toys. He also has a little table and art space back there, so we used these art displays for his area.
Follow along with Claire on Instagram at @plants.and.romance
