My Attempt at Abstract Art

I know I promised in the last post that we'd talk about our newly painted half bathroom but I am just way too excited about my recent art project that I HAD to share.  For a while now, I've been wanting to update the art above our mantel.  When we first moved in, our initial thought was that we'd eventually mount our TV above the mantel. There aren't a lot of practical spots for the TV in our living room (more on that in a minute), and we aren't thrilled that our current TV stand is partially blocking a window. However, we've heard from friends that they don't love their current tv-above-the-mantel situation due to always having to strain their necks looking up. First world problems.  Additionally, if we bit the bullet we'd have to pay an electrician to install an outlet up there because the LAST thing I want is a bunch of ugly wires hanging everywhere. No bueno. So what do I do when I'm debating over a room layout? I draw it out. Lucky for me, my mom went to school for interior design and I happen to work in the furniture industry which means I know a little thing or two about drawing floor plans.

First, I'll share a few pictures of when we first moved into the house, in case you're one of those visual people that need to see the actual room.

 

As you can see, the previous owners had the same issue and stuck that monstrosity of a TV stand in the corner. Nobody puts Baby in a corner. Dirty Dancing anyone?

Here's how our living room currently stands. We love how we have a great view of the TV from the kitchen but like I said, we have the issue of blocking part of our window.
*Side Note: We don't currently have a sectional but both really want one so I've included that in the plans. I also didn't bother measuring the room or drawing to scale because, well, I'm lazy.

 Here's our second option of putting the TV above the mantel. I think this option would provide the best view from all areas of the kitchen and living room however we still have the whole straining-our-neck problem, and we'd also have to get creative with a furniture piece to store the cable box and all that jazz.

Some of you may be thinking...Why don't you put it on that right wall?? Well, I'll tell you why not. We'd have to reposition the future sectional to accommodate the TV location, which in turn blocks a large portion of our walkway between the breakfast nook and living room. Even if we didn't get a sectional, we'd want our sofa  in front of the TV, not awkwardly to the side, for optimal football game/Real Housewives of Beverly Hills watching. Don't Judge.

 All of that to say, the TV location is still under debate here in the McEntire house. In the meantime though, I've been wanting a large piece of art above the mantel. We don't have much hanging on the walls yet and didn't want to spend a lot of money on art considering our room layout is still up in the air. So I decided I was going to attempt at painting something myself. I stumbled across this blog with the coolest abstract art piece that gave me inspiration.

 

It looked decently easy to do so I thought I'd give it a try. I was discussing these plans with my mom and she gave me the best idea. I'm seriously mad I didn't think of this myself. Instead of spending $50-$75 on a large scale canvas, she suggested I should make a canvas myself. Here's how I did it:

First, I Cut a couple 1x2 wood boards to the size I wanted. Remember how I convinced the Lowe's guy to donate a few pieces of scrap wood for our cabinet painting project? Those donated boards happened to be 1x2s. Holla! We bought four 'L' brackets and screwed our wood frame together.

Bear is such a camera hog.

Next on the to-do list was to purchase fabric to wrap around my wood frame. Mom suggested we buy some drop cloth for this. It's thick enough so that the paint wouldn't bleed through yet flexible enough to wrap around the wood frame. She's a genius.We spent around $20 but the great news is that I have plenty of extra drop cloth to spare for future projects.

I also went to Hobby Lobby and bought a handful of the little acrylic craft paints.

 I cut the drop cloth to size and ironed it out before painting.

 And then I just went to town. You can call me Picasso.

After a couple hours putting a little blue here and a little green there, I completed my masterpiece.

I patiently waited for it to dry, and then stapled it to my wood frame.

I couldn't wait to put that bad boy up on the mantel to see how it looked.

 

I love how it turned out, if I say so myself. What do you think? Do you have issues with your TV above the mantel or in front of a window? Regardless of where the TV ends up, my artwork will be staying in our living room.

I promise next time we'll show you what we've done with the half bath.

Night night!

K