A blogosphere fave, Molly Sim’s apartment (and namely this painting above the couch) has made its way onto many inspiration boards, I’m sure. Mine too! Of course as soon as I saw it I thought “I could do that” but was waaay too lazy to figure out where to start.
Then I saw that Kay at Apartment #412 actually went ahead with it, so then I thought “ok, I really COULD do that”.
Kay's inspirational quotes above her sofa
So this weekend, I did.
I started with these stencils from the craft store...
I only had space for 112 letters, give or take!
It was hard to choose what I would stencil: a song like in Molly Sim’s just wasn’t for me (too big, for one thing), and I’ve never been a quote girl like Kay. So I chose a poem by Richard Eberhart called “The Eclipse.”
Stenciling is messy. My spacing was poorly planned at first...
My 24 by 30 inch canvas would hold about 112 letters. The poem was a tad more, so I had to trim one prepositional phrase (“on the porch”) from the second half. But then…
... it fit perfectly!
After it had completely dried, I hung it up above the tv, where I still had my white feather wreath from Christmas hanging (it wasn’t passing as year-round like I was pretending it did). Here’s my custom work of art in its new home!
The color is kind of funky online. It's really not that Barbie-pink! Much more subtle.
Then guess what I saw online?! Another lyrics painting by Mustard and Sage (see on You Are My Fave).
A song by Neutral Milk Hotel, very nice.
“The Eclipse” by Richard Eberhart
I stood out in the open cold
to see the essence of the eclipse
which was its perfect darkness.
I stood in the cold on the porch
and could not think of anything so perfect
as man’s hope of light in the face of darkness.
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I saw this on Kay’s website too and decided to give it a shot! We have the words picked out, but I’m hunting for stencils and the canvas, because I want a different lettering-style. I’m going to be hanging it in the master bedroom above out bed, so we’ve picked a song. I can’t wait to see how it turns out!
This is great! I love that NMH song, but I like the idea of doing the board in pink like you did! I have all this wall space in my new apartment…I would love to do one of these!
This is a fabulous idea. And thank you for supplying my next weekend project.
Wow, what a great piece! I’m inspired to do my own.
oh it looks great, i love the variation in color and the placement right above the tv is nice. GREAT JOB!
That looks great!
Thanks for the inspiration.
I’ve been coveting these pieces for a while to — and wanting to make one of my own. Good for you for doing it! It turned out great!! You’ve inspired me to get off my butt and make one too!
This is the first I’ve seen of these pieces, but I really love them. Since I don’t have an artistic bone in my body, I always feel like I have to start searching so I can buy something like this. Showing how easy it was for you to create such an awesome, personalized work of art makes me feel – for the first time, really – that I can do this too. I move into a new place this winter & can’t wait to try it out. I’ll let you know how it goes!
Maggie you are so creative! This is a great idea and it turned out beautifully (and I trust you that it’s not “Barbie pink”) haha. I am totally going to do this in my home – thanks for the inspiration!
Love it, Mags! I’m glad you found a quote to use. You’ve inspired me to try a project myself!
Fun! Aaron and I are moving in together this summer and I’ve been trying to determine how we should decorate to suit us both. Great inspiration!
Wow it looks great! I have canvas, stencils and paint just waiting for me in my office to get started on this project. I hope to start it tomorrow. Let’s see how it goes!
Yay how exciting that we are matched up for the simple delights swap!
Looks great! I have to listen to some old faves and find a lyric to do!
This turned out great – I love this idea. Yours turned out great!
I’ve been wanting to do this DIY forever but have never gotten around to it. Yours looks great- love the pink. It’s the perfect pop of color for your space.
Maggie…what type of paints did you use for this project? I’m currently toying with the idea of doing one myself (I LOVE the look of them, but am juggling with where it might fit into my apartment’s decor), and was interested in a few more details about supplies as I’ve never canvas painted before. By the picture, I’m judging that you mixed red and white to make your three variations of pink, correct? Canvasses are 50% off at the craft store I work at this week, so I think I’m going to cave and buy!
Hey Heidi!
The canvas is the most expensive part, so I’d totally scoop one up for 50% off! I used acrylic paints, and you’re right; I mixed red and white to get those different shades of pink. I also picked up a few paint brushes in different sizes. Don’t get the cheapest (they’ll shed, maybe on the wet paint) but there’s no reason to get the most expensive either. They sell paint trays for mixing, but I just use leftover paper party plates. Good luck! Send me pics if you want when you’re done and I’ll post them!
xoxo Maggie
it looks awesome! so glad you did it
(and thanks for the blog love!)