Art studio dimensional wall panels for photography DIY makeover

Dimensional wall panels makeover.

I had recently been mulling over solutions to better photograph and video

my pieces like this botanical mosaic instead of on my plain painted wall.

In my home studio, I already have a good sized wall space with two windows

opposite for great natural light but hanging different sized art pieces to 

video and photograph has left a messy wall with lots of different nails, 

hooks and smudges... not cool, I needed a better solution.

See what I mean?

I can edit them out in photos but it really doesn't look 

pretty or professional in my Youtube videos.

I decided to try these textured, thin, dimensional panels to make-over the area

of the wall for photographing. These are widely available online and I chose 

a textured basketweave design call "Caro". This design came with 10 panels 

per box. The panels are approximately 20" x 20" and made of MDF wood fiber.

They are very thin and lightweight.

As shown in above pic, they came in the natural MDF color so I 

started by priming with Rustoleum spray primer in white.

I decided to go with neutral white in semi gloss and rolled on

a couple of coats after the primer.

To install, we drew out a level line vertically and horizontally and marked lightly

with a pencil. I'm only using 9 of the 10 panels to create a 

background of a large square on my wall, 3 panels across and 3 panels tall.

Of course you can create an entire wall or just a focal area with these panels

which would look amazing, but for my purposes, I'm going with a 

large square.

To apply to the wall, you apply construction adhesive to the backs and 

press into place. Since you started with a level line, it all goes pretty quickly

as you butt them up next to each other. We used Liquid Nails to apply ours.

If I were applying a focal area like this in the home, I would

probably frame the entire piece in wood for a finished look but

in this case, the edges won't be seen.

For my wall, I intend on placing the majority of my nails in the 

middle seam to camouflage holes. I spray painted a few nails white so 

that if any happened to be captured in a video, they won't be noticeable.

The textured design looks great.

I tested it out by hanging my latest crab mosaic.

I'm so happy with the look. It's clean, yet interesting and unobtrusive

for photographing my mosaics and the best part...no more 

nail holes and smudges.

Visit my new online store featuring mosaic art and coastal style ornaments. 

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Cheers!

~Lucy

How to paint decorative ceramic objects, DIY makeover with spray paint tutorial

Did you know you can paint decorative ceramic items? Well, you can!

I'm one of those people that will paint pretty much anything.

I've painted shoes, metal mini blinds, Christmas stockings, couches and fabric

to name a few, so I didn't bat an eyelash over the thought of painting over 

a pair of of ceramic vases I had.

This is what I was starting with.

I love these handmade vases that I bought years ago at a fancy shop.

They are large and heavy with hand applied ceramic petal pieces.

Although beautiful, this beige color just wasn't jiving in my new home 

so I decided to change them up rather than get rid of them.

I started by spraying them with light blue satin spray paint that had

built in primer. This part can be a little scary because they 

look horrible at this point, but keep going!

Next up, I dry brushed a warmer aqua color on top.

The before is on the left, after the aqua is on the right.

***Important...You must spray with a clear satin sealer at 

this point and let dry before going to the next step.

If you haven't sealed and start applying watery paint in the

next step, you will remove your previous paint layer.

Make sure to use satin finish. If it is too glossy, the brown

wash in the next step will not adhere at all.

After they were sealed and dry, I brushed on watered down brown

acrylic paint over the petals. I turned them upside down so the

paint could seep into all the nooks and crannies.

While the paint is still wet, quickly...and patiently in this case with

all the petals!...wipe away the excess brown paint with soft rags.

"Before" the brown wash is shown on the left and "after" on the right.

The brown adds a lovely toned down look with lots of color 

variation.

Seal with several coats of Rustoleum clear laquer, it gives a great high gloss finish.

I almost exclusively use Rustoleum spray paints (unless I can't find

a certain color) because they are just wonderful... and they didn't pay me to say that.

I didn't show this step but before I sealed with the laquer, I 

dry brushed a little gold metallic paint on the edges of the petals.

Metallics are so hard for me to capture in a photo but you can see 

glimpses of it in this photo.

Dazzling metallics in glorious gold is my go-to gold paint.

The "new" vases fit much better in our color scheme.

While I was at it I had a large cut work ceramic orb in bright 

white that didn't really go with our decor either, so I applied 

the same technique.

I used the same color paints as the vases. After completing all the 

steps above, I used Rustoleum Bright Coat in gold and sprayed it very heavily at the

top of the ball until it puddled and let it drip down randomly around the ball.

I coated with with the high glass laquer for the final coat.

It looks much more shiny and metallic than this photo shows!

Thanks for stopping by!

Visit my new online store or

Find me on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest.

Visit my all new Youtube channel where I show short

clips of current artwork in my Etsy shop

Kitchen Pantry Makeover, Replace wire shelves with wrap around wood shelving for under $130 DIY

Almost five years ago, I made over my pantry

by removing the deep wire shelving and replacing with wrap

around shelving.

Today, I did it again in my new home and I love it!

It's been on my to-do list ever since we moved in.

This is what I started with... ugh.

I didn't even pretend to straighten it up before taking a photo.

I'm so over this deep, constantly messy, can't find anything,

have to move five things out of the way to get one thing, pantry.

Just like my last pantry makeover, I started by removing the 

wire shelving, patching the holes and adding touch up paint.

I was having a bit of a difficult time getting the Closet Maid wire shelf anchors 

out of the wall but found that a tiny flat head screwdriver helped

pry the nail out just enough to be able to grab with the pliers

and remove it.

I'm not gonna lie... if you remove these types of 

anchors, you are going to be left with giant holes to patch.

It will be worth it, I promise!

Just like last time, I bought all white pre-primed wood boards

for the shelves as well as pre primed 1 x 2's for the supports

from Home Depot and that is such a time saver.

I bought 8 ft lengths and cut to the sizes I needed at home.

I did not paint over it, just used as is.

I spaced my shelves about 13" apart.

You can always adjust the spacing to fit your needs.

**This is a pantry with potentially heavy items like canned goods.

When attaching your 1 x 2's to the wall you must screw the majority

of your screws into the wall studs so your shelves will be super strong and sturdy.

It goes without saying you must also use a level as well when

installing your 1 x 2's... you don't want lopsided pantry shelving.

I used this type of screw I found at Home Depot to 

mount the 1 x 2's. 

**You must drill pilot holes in the

 1 x 2 wood pieces before using this screw or you will split the wood.

I

I mounted the back wall 1 x 2 supports first. Once they were in place,

it was easy to rest the level on the edge of the back support to level the side 1 x 2's.

Then I forgot to take more during pics, but here I'm starting to

lay the shelving boards on top of the 1 x 2 supports.

After laying the shelving boards on top of the 1 x 2's, you then need to secure

them to the 1 x 2's to keep them in place. To do that, I used regular wood screws 

along the back edge of each shelf to screw down into the 1 x 2 supports.

I placed my screws about 6-7 inches apart along the back of each shelf.

**Since you are screwing into the very back edge of the shelf and down into 

the 1 x 2, you must predrill your holes again so the wood

won't split on the edge.

This pantry is a little different and a little larger than my last one. 

In this pantry, the door swings open into the pantry,

in my old pantry, the door swung out into the room.

This means there is no end wall for the side pieces to butt up

against like last time which gave them extra support, instead

my shelves are open-ended...

To remedy my lack of an end wall for my side shelves, I used metal mending 

plates on the underside to secure the side shelves to the back shelves 

and it worked like a charm.

To reiterate and ease any fears or confusion on whether there is enough 

support for the shelves, just remember...

The deeper back shelves are fully supported on THREE sides.

 They are supported across the full length of the shelf by the back wall 1 x 2's 

as well as being supported on each end by the side wall 1 x 2's.

The side shelves are only 6" deep and are supported by the side wall 1 x 2's 

as well as being anchored to the (supported on 3 sides) back shelf

with the metal mending plates. The metal mending plates also

serve to help the corners line up perfectly.

And as mentioned. all shelves are then screwed into the 1 x 2's

that have been securely screwed into your wall studs! :)

I used 12" deep shelves on the bottom two back shelves, 

8" deep for the remaining back wall shelves and 6" on the sides.

Looking in to the left...

Looking in to the right...

Straight ahead...

*starry eyed*

The lowdown on this makeover...

I've gotten so many emails about my previous pantry makeover

from people worried they will lose space. In my last makeover

I felt I had gained space but had not measured before and after so

 I didn't know for sure.

This time, I measured the wire shelf space before I removed them

and calculated I had 21.56 square feet of shelf space.

The after measurements with my new wrap around 

wood shelves measure 21.36 square feet.

So it's practically the same but you will feel like you have more

space simply because you can see everything.

I'll take being able to clearly see what I have in the pantry

over a negligible loss of space any day!

I spent a total of $127 for this makeover including primed wood, 

screws and mending plates, yours could be 

more or less. My pantry is 33"w x 34" deep to where

the door swings in and a 9ft ceiling.

$130 bucks for a lifetime of pantry happiness? yes please!

I started this project one evening by removing the wire shelving

and patching the holes so it would be ready to go the next morning.

I finished the next day so these before and after photos 

show the exact same food and items in the pantry.

Thanks for reading about my latest pantry makeover!

Would love for you to visit my new online store. You can also

find me on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Youtube and Houzz

or swing by my Etsy shop for reduced prices on remaining paintings

and mermaids.

Until next time!...

Painted Ceiling Medallions, Easy DIY painted bronze finish

I work with a local interior designer occasionally for painted projects 

or makeovers she needs. On this job she needed these 3ft diameter

ceiling medallions painted in a bronze finish.

She contacted me to paint them before they were installed so

my neck was happy about that!

This was a quick project.

I started by spray painting a reddish brown base coast.

When that was dry I applied watered down

black paint and used a brush to get in all the nooks and crannies

then wiped away the excess with a soft cloth.

This is one of them after the black paint had dried

When all was dry I dry brushed with a muted gold metallic paint.

In this pic, the bottom one has been brushed with metallic, 

the top one has not

They look much better than my phone pics are leading you to believe!

detail...

Before and After

 Visit my new online store featuring mosaic art and coastal style ornaments. 

Find me on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and Youtube

Thanks for stopping by!