Weekend Projects: Wonderful Wall Art - Part 1...

String Artwork

To make this tree-motif string art piece, coat a piece of plywood with black interior latex paint. Sketch a tree lightly in pencil. Begin pounding 1-inch white nails into the plywood along the design at random intervals. Tie nylon cord to the lowest, left-most nail and begin looping the cord around the surrounding nails. Keep the nylon taught at all times. Work your way up the tree and extend out to each branch, ending at the top. Tie a tight knot at the top-most nail. Finish by tying 2-inch pieces of color cording to a few nails at the tips of the branches. Display in an oversize frame, or cut and miter moulding to border the plywood.

 

 

Stenciled Wall Art

A blank white wall in this dining room gets a boost of color thanks to a brightly colored stenciled canvas. To get the look, stencil an ikat pattern (or any other pattern you like) onto canvas and stretch it over 1x2-inch boards at the top and bottom.

Printable Wall Art

Recreating this small art piece is as simple with this free download. Simply download, print and frame, or use a photo transfer method to put the print on canvas or a block of wood

Download the owl art for free! via bhg.com

Travel Documents

Keep vacation memories fresh with this easy and inexpensive wall art project. Cut a map to standard printer-paper size (8 1/2x11 inches). Use a word processor to create words, phrases, symbols, or photos that remind you of the special places you've traveled. Print your design on the map. Use spray adhesive to affix the map to a store-bought art canvas. Brush on two coats of decoupage medium, allowing the canvas to dry between applications to seal it. To give a newer map a weathered look, soak it in extra-strong coffee or black tea for an hour, then hang it up to dry.

Watercolor Flowers: This pretty project can be recreated using inexpensive watercolor.paints. Create a light wash by mixing water with one base color. Paint the entire surface of the stretched canvas with the color; let dry. To make flower stems, use a thin brush to paint a single line of light green watercolor paint. The lines need not be perfect; watercolor looks best when it’s applied organically. When the light green is almost dry, highlight it with a line of darker green; let dry. To create the flowers, place a nickel-size puddle of watercolor paint in a light tone onto the canvas at the top of one stem. Hold a straw vertically, straight over the top of the puddle. Blow into the straw to spread the paint into a sunburst pattern and let it dry. Repeat the process with a deeper, more saturated tone of the same color and let it dry again.

 

 

Hand-Drawn Wall Art

Even if your art skills are elementary, doodle on! With a marker in hand you can create one-of-a-kind wall art and unexpected updates for basic home decor in a matter of hours. Write a favorite quote, song lyric, or poem on a fabric scrap then frame, and enjoy. Draw a simple picture, then employ a blending technique to make it something truly special.

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So although the weekend might already be nearly over - this is the week that you can prepare you next weekend's projects such as these Wonderful Wall  Art projects that I have come across and wanted to share with you. Some have more creativity injected them to others but I do think there's a wall art project that can be done by any one - no matter your 'art' level!
Why not try one of these projects for your living room, bedroom or kids bedroom, or a guest room! Customise your colours and materials - and voila - you have an original décor wall art piece!eave me a comment or email me you project and how it turned out - I would love to hear from you.
Enjoy,
 

 

 

 

images pinterest, tumblr, bhg, hgtv, traditional home.

Cluster Wall Art...

Following from my earlier post on 'Scale' I am in the midst of adding to my cluster wall art in our upstairs landing area, stairwell, and sorting out multiple frames [degrees, certificates & the like] in our office. The office framing is proving the most tricky as I don't want the walls to feel like they are con caving onto the workspace, so key elements of placement and scale is critical here, whilst dealing with regular height ceilings - higher ceilings would be far more helpful! What I did come across on Canadian House & Home, by Meg Crossley's post, was this fabulous image of a work space with a very workable wall art cluster as captured by Cape Town photographer Jac de Villiers. I am further inspired to keep going at it!! I hope to post something soon of the outcome... Stay tuned!

Image from Canadian House & Home

15 Festive Wreaths for Friday!

It's Friday, the weekend is upon us & not 2 weeks from now many of us will be putting our feet up, or chowing down on our Christmas Day lunch & dinner with Family & Friends... Wow the next fortnight will really go quickly!!

I found this fab image to share with you... What a wonderful way to show your Christmas Spirit by creating the 'green' wreath wall, show you don't have jut pop a wreath on your door alone!! You could achieve this look with either live potted plants that are in nestled in stag moss/ peat in a wreath shape - and water them daily to keep moist, or try an artificial variety and purchase faux ivy or box hedge style wreaths.

As you can see here, there's no need for further decoration you can keep it stylish & simple and create the look by putting the wreaths in a gird or shape formation. If you wanted to decorate you could try using just 1 or 2 styles and colours of bauble, or a flower (artificial or real), or why not try a beach theme using some shells, [dried] starfish, or small glittered driftwood pieces. Not forgetting the bush & country you could also bring in some native gum nuts or seeds to add texture... This look could also be a great alternative to a tree if you don't have the space!

What Christmas inspired artwork will you come up with??

Hope you have a wonderful weekend & have a chance to get all your Christmas decorations & shopping done before the chaos catches up! Take care & thank you for visiting Palatial Living this week. Enjoy - S x

Image from My House Ideas

Trend | Fun with Wall Decals

Decals or Wall Stickers... some of us are familiar with them from our childhood - maybe a 'Holly Hobby' or 'Raggedy Ann', or a 'Sesame Street' character, or for the boys a 'Star Wars Enterprise ship' placed near a growth chart! Well it would seem that they have come long way from then, and not just restricted to children's bedrooms! More recently there has been an upward trend towards using decals through out main living areas, [home] offices and bedrooms - the design & quality now are far more sophisticated than we remember and technological advance in materials allows the wall sticker to come off without taking off half the wall with you! The contemporary wall stickers now fashion themselves more on Wall Art than just an animated design...

Take a look there may be something that might change how you look at your walls....

Above. Quote decal in a living space above a lounge creates a beautiful thinking space. Image from vi.sualize.us
Above. Living Room feature wall with decals creates a striking dining space. Image from Roxx.on.com

Above. Blown dandelion decal used in a bedroom makes for a wistful approach. Design Shrine

Above. Glamming up a plain bed with a designer Head board decal Wall Glamour through Apartment Therapy

Above. When you don't have any fresh flowers... Image from Create H: Interior Design

Above. One of my favourite poster typography quotes makes for a fun contemporary living space.image from Flickr

A little bit of meaning.... Decal - A decal (pronounced /ˈdiːkæl, ˈdiːkəl, ˈdɛːkl/) or transfer is a plastic, cloth paper or ceramic substrate that has printed on it a pattern that can be moved to another surface upon contact, usually with the aid of heat or water. The word is short for "decalcomania." The word Decalcomania is derived from the French word "decalquer," and was coined by Simon François Ravenet about 1750. The "mania" was added during the Decal craze of the late 1800s.
Different variations of decals include: "water-slide" or "water-dip"; and vinyl "peel-and-stick". A water-slide (or water-dip) decal is a type of decal that must first be dipped in water prior to its application[1]. Upon contact with water, the glue is loosened and the decal can be removed from its backing. A vinyl "peel-and-stick" decal is a petroleum based decal that transfers upon peeling off the decal from its base.

For more Decal Wall Sticker ideas & images why not try [Australia] Stencil Gallery ; Wall Sticker Company; Cool Art Vinyl, Wall Allure or [U.K] Wall Glamour; or [U.S] Dali Decals

Warmth from Contemporary Wall Art

John-Richard 'Blocks' Abstract art
John-Richard 'Sunrise' Oil

John-Richard 'Red Sky' art

So much warmth & individuality can come from a piece[s] of art [work] such as shown in these images - pieces by John-Richard for Horchow. I especially love art styles of abstract expressionists in landscape and conceptualist works. But most importantly an art work when considering placement in a room - aside from appreciation and sheer love for it - be it [graphic or advertisement] print, oil, acyclic, mixed media, collage, or even a framed favourite piece of printed paper, fabric or tea towel, can act as a colour vehicle to tie other separate hues together in a room or space - thus creating a more unified colour scheme & style.

Images courtesy of Horchow, John-Richard

In Love with Blue & White...

Blue & White Coral Wall Art framed in Silver from Horchow

New season Asian Ceramic Platter from Horchow

Ceramic Calligraphy brushes from Architectural Elements

New season Large Ceramic Asian Ginger Jar from Horchow

I have had a little break from 'Palatial Living' over the past few weeks but am back now and have been found new inspiration from new seasonal lines that have popped up over the New Year.

I have noticed that through my decorating & styling that I am consistently drawn back to 'Blue & White' both in its colour scheme and the patterns it can create. I adore these blue & white 'willow-esque' patterns from Asian ceramics from Ginger jars, to decorative but functional platters, to small containers and these brushes - above. Another decorative element that caught my eye was the hand painted blue & white Coral wall art in silver frames although not in essence part of the 'Asian' ceramic or 'willow-esque' look, the coral's 'fingers' still have a delicate & whimsical pattern that compliments the ceramic pieces and colour scheme allowing it to tie together in simpatico.

Images courtesy of Horchow & Architectural Elements