DIY "Canvas" Prints

For the first year that we lived in our house, I think we had a total of 6 things hung on the walls throughout our whole house. This really made our large dining and living room look very bare and "unhomey." So I was very happy to finally get to a project that would give us some more stuff to hang on the walls and make our house seem a little more lived in.

On Pinterest, there are a lot of posts about ways to make your own canvas looking prints at a cheaper price than actually buying them at a real store. This post is the one I chose to follow to make my own for our house.

I followed what she did pretty much exactly except I made mine a little different size and didn't use the same kind of foam that she did.

I ordered my pictures from Staples.com. The Engineering Print 24" x 36" size is $3.59 per picture. The Engineering Prints are cheaper than ordering a real picture, but you have to get them in black and white, so if you want to do color, you'll have to explore other options and they probably will cost more. I ordered the pictures online and they were usually ready the same day. I only needed 4 pictures, but I ended up doing 3 separate orders. I ordered just one the first time as a test to be sure that it was what I wanted and then I ordered the other three the next day after I knew I was happy with them. After I got those pictures, I realized that two of the pictures wouldn't work because we were too big in the picture in comparison to the others, therefore looking like giants. Because of that, I had to place one more order to get the "right" pictures. The only thing it cost me though was one more trip to Staples and the $7.18 for the pictures, a small price to get it right...

The pictures:

At Lowe's I bought one large sheet of foam board (1" x 4' x 8') and had one of the workers cut it down for me. I told him he could just cut it so I could fit it in my car and I could cut the rest at home, but if I were to do it again, I'd have him cut them all. That way I would have all straight lines and be sure they were the same size. Mine ended up being a little off and not have as crisp of edges as I would have liked, but I can deal with it.

I also bought some Loctite Adhesive Spray at Lowe's, which is what I used to adhere my pictures to the foam. Be sure to get the kind that works with foam so it doesn't eat away at it.

I set up shop in the garage and got to work. First, I figured out what part of the picture I wanted to show on the foam, since the pictures were a lot larger than the actual board to allow for some to wrap around. Then, I picked up the top part of the picture and sprayed underneath on the board and then smoothed the picture over it. Once I was happy with where it was, I'd do the same thing with the bottom half. The adhesive is fairly giving and if you don't place the picture correctly the first time, you have some time to fix it before it is stuck on there for good.

Once the picture is all attached to the front, I moved to attaching the sides. Doing one side at a time, I would spray the side and then attached the picture to the side and then the same with the back. On the corners, I wrapped them sort of like a present so they were flush with the sides.

It probably took me two hours at most to finish all four pictures, and that included getting my foam to the size I wanted. (Each of mine is about 18 x 26) So it would be even less time if you had the nice guys at Lowe's cut them to size for you.

I let the pictures dry overnight before I attempted to hang them. To figure out my placement on the wall up the stairs where I was going to hang them, I used some newpapers in the approximate size that I wanted them to be to get a visual look. I then put a piece of blue painters tape along the bottom of the newspaper where the pictures would go and used a level to be sure that the tape was straight across.

The foam is very lightweight so I just used some Command Strips to hang them on the wall. I lined up the bottom with the painters tape (knowing they were straight because my tape was level) and then pressed it to the wall according to the recommended instructions on the Command Strip package. Repeat four times and WALLAH!! I was done!!

All in all, I'm very happy with the way these turned out. They were very easy and inexpensive and I'd definitely do them again. I can also see myself redoing the same technique in with some other project idea in the future.

For this project, I spent $54.38 for the pictures, foam board, adhesive spray and command strip hangers and I still have some of all those supplies left to use for future projects (even though I'm not sure what I'm going to do with two big 24x36 pictures of us!).

To purchase four similar sized canvas prints from a store I would have had to spend a lot more.

Costco - $44.99 for 1 - 18" x 24" canvas print ($179.96 for four)
easycanvasprints.com - on sale for $77.92 for 1 - 18" x 24" canvas print ($311.68 for four)
snapfish.com - $99.99 for 1 - 20" x 24" canvas print ($399.96 for four)
Walgreens - $99.99 for 1 - 20" x 24" canvas print ($399.96 for four)

You get the point! I like doing projects like this (when they turn out good) and when I can save some money, it's even better!