DIY Upcycling Wall Decor

I am a very frugal person. I am the one who walks in to the store and goes straight to the sale section! I love getting a good deal and finding things that I can tweak to make my own. I bought this wood wall decor piece from Marshall’s Homegoods for – get this – $4. :] I immediately fell in love with the concept of the raw exposed wood create this beautiful picture of a candelabra, but let’s be honest – that Hawaiian-ish maroon design isn’t really my style. I decided to give this decor piece a little modern oomph with some white paint.

Here’s how you can Upcycle your Wall Art:

I lightly sanded the areas I wanted to paint (ALL of the dark print). When repainting something completely you don’t need to sand all of the original paint off – you just need to sand lightly to make sure that the paint can adhere to the wood. Be sure to dust off the excess grains of paint you’ve sanded before you start to paint. I used a dry paint brush to make sure I got all of the nooks and crannies of this picture.

I went to the local Hobby Lobby and picked up this white acrylic paint for a couple of bucks. You want to make sure you get acrylic paint when you paint wood. Latex or other types of paint will roll off and create a mess! I painted about 3 layers of paint to cover the dark design that was originally there. When painting it is always best to be patient and make sure the paint is dry before adding another coat. This was probably the hardest part about this project for me! Patience is not my strongest attribute! :]

I didn’t realize until I started how tiny some of the spots were that I had to paint! My face hurt from scrunching it concentrating so hard! haha! And I won’t lie – I had a couple of moments of rage when I would accidentally touch the raw wood with the white paint! But no worries, I used a toothpick to get the excess paint off and sanded it off once it was dry!

Take a look at the finished product below! I am really happy with the way it came out! It really is an interesting piece of wall decor and now it works perfectly in our home!