Today marks the conclusion of Boy Mom Madness, so it seems fitting that my Five Minute Friday project should also be for the boys.
Beckett goes to preschool two days a week, and they do an art project every day. That's a lot of fabulous three-year old art that comes into our house! Right now I am keeping all of it in a bin, and I have ideas in mind for how I'll decide what the keep, and how to document it without saving every piece of paper. But those are stories for other days. Today, I'm talking about displaying that art work in our home on a daily basis.
We have a magnetic chalkboard wall in our kitchen, and I like to hang the boys' artwork right there for all to see. And while Beckett is proud to see his art in the kitchen, he often asks if he can please take it to his room. I love that he loves his room, and I love that he is proud of his art and wants it in his own space.
A few months ago I was flipping through the new Ikea catalog, and in one of the full room photos - the art display caught my eye... art hung from men's pant hangers.
I immediately flagged the page and mentally added it to my to do list, thinking that not only would this solution inexpensive and easy, it would also a perfect fit for Beckett's vintage preppy, menswear inspired bedroom.
A couple of weeks ago, I was in Michaels and came across an aisle display of denim craft products, and mixed in with the denim stretched canvases were some very nice looking beige linen canvases with a nail head detail around the edges. I picked up two of the large canvases and some denim supplies to make a fun organizing project for Beckett's closet {which I blogged about earlier this week}. I was headed to the register when it dawned on me that the stretched linen canvases {in the 16x20 inch size} would allow me to create a pant hanger art display that would have a bit of a higher-end, framed out feel.
I could picture the finished project in my head, but I could quite work out the details of how I would hang the hangers on the canvas. I wandered up and down a hardware aisle waiting for something to jump out at me - and finally it did. I picked up a small package of picture hangers. So my short supply list looked like this:
SUPPLY LIST
16"x20" stretched canvas {I used linen from Michaels}
D-Ring Picture Frame Hangers and screws {one per canvas}
Trouser Clamp Hangers
Drill or screwdriver
Command Picture Hanging Strips {the Velcro-like strips}
TUTORIAL
Attach on D-Ring Picture Frame Hanger to the top center of each canvas.
Make sure the place the picture hanger far enough forward that the D-Ring can hang down in front of the canvas,
With the D-Ring picture hanger in place, I was able to simply put the hanger through the ring, allowing the hanger to hang right in front of the canvas, but making it easy to take the hanger off in order to change out the art display.
To hang the canvases on the wall, I added Command picture hanging strips to the back.
There wasn't a lot of available wall space in Beckett's room for three big canvases, so I decided to create his art gallery right behind his bedroom door. We often close the door when we play in his room {his preference} and he sleeps with the door closed at night - so his art display will be visible often.
We picked three pieces of his artwork, clamped them in the pant hangers, and hung the pant hangers back on the D-Rings.
Beckett was so excited to his art on display, and the pant hangers are such a fun addition to all of the other menswear details in his room {which include 10 belts, 9 denim pockets, 33 neckties, and 1 bow tie}.
I could have certainly just hung the pant hangers directly on the wall, but I really like the way the linen canvases give this art display a more tailored and finished look. The beige linen looks nice against the light blue walls, and is a great compliment to the beige background of the
argyle feature wall on the other side of the room.
I love that Beckett enjoys art, and that he takes so much pride in his artwork! I hope that by creating this art gallery right in his room, he will be encouraged to continued creating art and expressing his creativity for many years to come!
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Labels: art, DIY, kids, playroom
