Wall Makeover and Easy Fabric Wall Art

Aside from the wall now being occupied by my Sunburst Disc Mirror, we have another wall at home that needs a makeover:

Well, hello there Dora! That's Andrea's little girl chair. For now, let's focus on the wall behind the couch.

That frame holds a 2000-piece puzzle my husband and I worked on for 2 weeks a couple of years ago. My parents, and my husband's parents are the type who freaks when you make permanent holes on concrete walls. That's the kind of thinking we grew up with so we don't have a lot of wall decor.  I have a couple of those removable 3M hooks but I have never tried using them to hang heavy frames with glass yet. I've been meaning to do something about this wall for a while. So last weekend, I decided to start.

This is what we have now after I was done:

The smallest frame is actually still empty. I painted a couple of frames as well last weekend but I haven't gotten the chance to hang them yet. I decided to try those 3M removable hooks to hang the smaller frames and for the other frames I plan to add to this wall.

We have this wall decal I found at the mall:

Then I printed the silhouette I made of Andrea and put it in an old picture frame that I painted white.

The frame is a little bigger than the image I printed so I used black felt as background.

And then I made this fabric wall art:

I originally wanted a black and white theme for my wall but when I laid out the wall decal, I saw that the cages have colored flower print on some areas. So I decided to add a little color to the black and white fabric I initially picked out.

I prepared a little tutorial on how to make this wall art. Everything I used came from IKEA:

• IKEA Tyglosa frame (I can't find this on the IKEA website, but my friend bought 3 of these from IKEA in Singapore and I bought one of those from her);
• Fabric that is at least 6 inches wider, and 6 inches longer than the frame (3-inches allowance on all sides). I used SARALISA fabric;
• Another fabric for cutouts. I used ANAMOA blue fabric;
• Fabric glue;
• A hammer for assembling the frame.

The frame already came with the screws and nails needed to put it together so I just followed the instructions that came with it. You can use any plain frame for this project though.

Step 1: Cut small flowers or other objects from a piece of your fabric. The photo above shows a tree and I initially wanted to use that but after I cut it out, it didn't look quite right if you place it on top of my black and white fabric so I decided to cut 2 colorful flowers, 1 pine cone and 1 leaf from a different section of the fabric instead.

Step 2: Arrange your cutouts on top of your main fabric. Note that there is a 3-inch allowance on all sides so make sure you do not place your cut outs on those areas since you will be folding the allowance under the frame.

Step 3: If you're happy with the arrangement, use fabric glue to attach the cutouts to the main fabric. Let dry.

Step 4: Assemble your wall art. These next instructions were also included in the Tyglosa frame package.

• Fold one side of the fabric under the frame and secure with small nails. I think I only used 5 nails on each side, though the instructions were recommending to use more than that.
• Stretch your fabric over the frame and secure the other 3 sides with small nails. Make sure you stretched tight across the frame to make it look even.

You can stop after Step 4. You have your fabric wall art. However, I added an extra step. Since I live in a humid country and dust sticks to everything, I knew the white parts in my fabric will look grimy in a few weeks. So I decided to spray clear paint over it to protect the fabric.

The wall still looks a little empty so I may need to add a few more things.