House & Home

DIY Word Wall Art Ideas

One of the easiest and most economical ways to add personality and artwork to one's home is to do it yourself. Art projects can be fun family projects or personal journey's of self-expression. Best of all, many projects can be done with even the most limited art skills. The internet is filled with

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One of the easiest and most economical ways to add personality and artwork to one's home is to do it yourself. Art projects can be fun family projects or personal journey's of self-expression. Best of all, many projects can be done with even the most limited art skills. The internet is filled with great ideas for projects that can be customized to fulfill your own needs and interests. Here are three great DIY projects that feature word wall art:

Negative Space Wall Art featured on "A Beautiful Mess" Blog: We all have snippets of songs or a line of poetry that speak to us. For this easy project, all you need are vinyl alphabet letters that are available at craft or hardware stores, a painting or poster you don't mind re-purposing and white acrylic craft paint and brushes.
Plot out the placement of the letters to spell out your phrase and apply the vinyl letters to your background piece of art. Overpaint the entire piece and when dry, pull off the vinyl letters revealing pieces of the underlying art behind the empty letters. The result is a "reverse" print that is truly a one of a kind piece. Frame or leave unframed as you prefer.

Say It Your Way Word Art featured on "A Small Snippet" Blog: Here's another way to express yourself. Prepare an old frame with new paint and take the inside measurement. Select a phrase or song lyric and type it into a computer program such as Photoshop or Apple's Pages, or any that allows you to create different text boxes - one box per word. Layout your phrase using two or three different fonts and font sizes in a manner that is pleasing to you. The page size should match your frame measurement.
Many printing stores such as FedEx Printing, Stapes or a local printing company will be able to print out your document on their large printers for very little money. Email them the file (based on their instructions) and it will be ready for pickup shortly thereafter. Simply frame, hang and enjoy!

The ABC's of Wall Art featured on "A Time for Everything" blog: Sometimes, inspiration comes from the building blocks of our language, the ABC's themselves. Start by collecting all the letters of the alphabet in various sizes and shapes. Many home stores, art supply stores and hardware stores sell oversize letters for decorative uses; some are finished, others may be unfinished. Be creative - you might use a plate or enormous button for the ‘O', a ruler for the ‘I' or even stencil a letter onto another shaped piece. Remember that ‘N' and ‘Z' or ‘M' and ‘W' are interchangeable.

You may wish to paint or decoupage some of your letters - this is a great place for a lot of creativity! Once you have all your letters assembled, start laying them out in a manner that fits your space - it's completely up to you. Hang your letters with movable picture hanging strips that are available in hardware or stationary stores.

Do you want more word art inspiration? Check out these posts on Hometalk, the social network where people share and help with everything home and garden:

Linda Merrill is an interior designer who works with Boston plumbers and electricians.