Sometimes dreaming big can be pricey, right? Even for the DIY creator, dreams take some dollar bills.
From the moment we first walked into this house, I have loved the fireplace. It’s dual sided, so we enjoy it in the living room and our four seasons room, which I lovingly call the “snow-room”. It has seven windows and three door ways so you can watch the snow from every angle. It’s beautiful.
Although I love the fireplace, I do not love the tile work. I have dreamed of covering the whole wall with brick tile. We plan to do it ourselves. After learning that the tile costs over $500 (and will take some legit labor), we thought we better hold off on ordering that brick for now.
You know I love color and every wall in my house has art or something on it, so this blank wall has been driving me crazy.
I came up with an idea to let the kids have fun with it, while we are in the transition phase of our room. Why not let the kids paint one of our favorite Bible verses on it? Kids handwriting is the best. Plus, I don’t need to worry about sanding down the stroke marks when we are ready for a change. I will literally just brick over the artwork, when the time comes. It sounded perfect and now we all love it so much….I may never want to brick. Here is how we created our kid’s wall art:
I printed the words off the computer with the actual amount of words I wanted on each line, so the kids could get an idea of spacing. I used a yard stick and level to draw lines on the wall. I then taped the printout onto the wall and let the kids start copying.
My boys alternated line by line who was in “charge” of that line. I wanted both of their handiwork on the wall. Reagan wanted to get in on the fun, so we adapted and let her add some hearts. Her touch completed the piece.
After the words/hearts were in pencil on the wall, we used simple craft acrylic paint to paint over the words. My oldest was able to hold the bottle and paint on his own. My younger two liked me standing there holding the bottle while they steadied themselves on the wall with one hand and painted with the other.
They did an amazing job! We did space this project out over two days so they didn’t get burned out. The pencil writing was the first day and the painting was on day two. They were so proud and excited to be painting on the wall. My oldest was a little more timid at first saying I could do a better job and he was struggling with it not being perfect. It was a beautiful teaching moment, and I just adore kids hand writing. I wanted it in all the little imperfections and quirks. That is what made it beautiful.
The wall was really dirty after pencil being smeared all over, as you can see in this picture below. I came back once the kids were all done and erased my pencil lines and as much of the smears as I could. What I could not get up with an eraser a Mr. Clean sponge was able to erase. Since we are covering these walls up someday, there was not pressure on if we were ruining them. We literally can’t.
We had so much fun creating this little focal point. What a fun way to get some truth on our walls as well. It is now one of the first things you see when you walk in our house. It’s perfect.
I may never want to brick. My little artists won’t be young forever, but I love capturing their art with where they are…whenever I can.
Would you let your kids paint on the wall? What is a way you have temporarily decorated a space that you would love to update more eventually? I know there are so many ways?! Here is one more to add in your deck of cards.
I hope you have a great week and get to create in some creative way!
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