Kitchen Sprucing: Part 1

Our kitchen needed some serious DIY attention. All the lovely wall space along with a wonderful sunken in area above our cabinets was completely blank. No personality, pale, and completely blah. I am the kind of Pinterester that loves to pin all these creative things but can never seem to decide on an idea. I think it's my need for constant perfection. I am always worried it won't come out as good, not to mention, when I go to the art store I always wind up spending way too much time looking because I can never make up my mind.

Thankfully I have a wonderful man who supports any artistic idea I have AND he calms me down when it doesn't go the way I think I want it to.

Considering the time it took to decide what I wanted to do with all the space, it's going to take a few projects to satisfy my need to fill up the empty space. I do have to start somewhere right?

I decided on this:

I have had my eye on this wall art for the past few weeks. Besides the simplicity that it radiated, it seemed like the perfect thing for my kitchen. Since our kitchen lacked a style scheme, it was nice to have a blank slate to work with. (Also, I've been on a canvas inspiration lately. I can't help how much nicer it makes certain projects look!)

 

I started with these supplies:

For me, the most expensive part of this project was the stencils. I think one thing that always kept me from crafting much was the fact that it can be really expensive, especially when you are just starting out from ground zero with no supplies of any sort. After awhile, I realized that crafting for me is a stress reliever. Some people pay therapists, I pay for art supplies.

Hobby Lobby has a great selection of value canvases that come in a two pack. I got two 11X14 sized canvases for $8. The stencils were pricey given the fact that they were flimsy plastic that I ended up having to cut up, but I can save them and use them for other projects. The brushes I already had from a previous project, and the paints were less than $1.50 each.

I started out by painting my canvas a cream color. I knew that our kitchen had a lot of brown, black, and neutral tones in it, but I didn't want to do a off the wall color because I wanted it to be versatile if/when we move someday or taste changes. Plus, I thought it would be better to offset it with subtle colored accent pieces.

 



After the paint dried and I finished prepping for my next step, I dabbed a tiny round foam brush in some black paint and went at it.

 

 

Cutting the stencil letters that I needed out from the big sheet made it a lot easier to place them where they needed to go. When Austin came home and found me upset that my letters didn't turn out so clean cut and perfect, he told me he liked it and it gave it some character. This is why I love him so! 

 

I agreed after my perfection OCD stopped poking me in the side every two seconds. The ruggedness of the letters along with the color I chose for my canvas gave the over all look of a vintage/burlap style.

 

 

 

Mine turned out like this.

(Disregard the slight pink twinge to it, the lighting wasn't working in my favor). I think it turned out pretty well and it made a nice edition to our becoming kitchen. The thing I really like is that it is totally personal and original. Any words, maybe a favorite recipe or phrase tailored to your kitchen's feel, make a nice art piece to look at.