Surfboard Wall Art

Happy Labor Day!  I hope you had a relaxing long weekend!  Unfortunately, not everyone gets Labor Day off to rest.  My poor Dad had to work today.  Even if it wasn't a long weekend, I hope you were able to do something fun!  Like many Americans, we headed to the beach!  I love when we go out to New Smyrna.  It's like all responsibilities melt away.  We get to relax without the guilt of my daily To Do list.

We bought our beach condo at the beginning of the year and have been working to make it great on a budget ever since.  I shared my SURF Giant Letters that we made for the girls room.  We've since added a few more things to complete their room, including this fun Surfboard Wall Art.

I found this surfboard art at Goodwill for $5.99.   I wasn't too big on the colors.  Ick!  Ketchup and mustard colors.  But I also knew it had potential.  It was the right price to make something great.  

I started by painting the whole thing with a thin coat of primer.  The colors were so bright that I didn't want them to bleed through at all.  After the primer dried, I taped off the red stripes down the middle of the surfboard.  I decided not to paint the contrasting stripes down the edges of the board, but just make them the same color as the rest of it.  I did paint the middle stripe a bright white.  I painted a couple of coats to make it fully covered.

My next step was to paint the outsides of the board a beige color.  I gave it a second coat as well.  After it dried, I rubbed on a darker stain with a rag in order to give my surfboard a more real wood look.  Wipe it in the same direction you want your wood grain to go.  Give it a good even coat.  You can add more or even wipe the excess off if it is too dark.  Allow to dry completely.

After it dried, I peeled off my blue painter's tape.  I can see the stripes underneath between my wood grain and the white middle stripe.  I used a dark blue paint that matches my SURF letters and a steady hand to paint my blue stripes on either side of the white stripe.  You could also tape it off to make sure you paint a straight line, but I just went for it and it turned out.  

The surfboard came out great and was perfect to hang on the girls wall at the beach.  I love how the stain gave the board a wood look.  So much better than the red and yellow.  Not lucky enough to find an ugly surfboard to update?  Just cut your own surfboard out of a piece of plywood!

That just meant we had to find something for over the other bed.  Luckily, I came upon these awesome wood fish bones on sale at Marshall's for only $7 for the three of them.  A cute addition to the girls room.

I also found these two matching Tommy Hilfiger quilts for only $35 each on sale at Homegoods.  I had already found this cute monkey surf lamp at Goodwill and later found this cute surf monkey canvas print at Ross for $7.  Love when a room can come together and stay on budget as well.  

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Giant SURF Wall Letters

Looking for that big impact wall art without a lot of effort?  How about giant letters!  We are working to update our new beach condo, and are slowly changing the girls nautical bedroom into a surf themed bedroom.  We are keeping the blue bedding for now and transitioning the wall art as we have time.

I have been working on a surfboard to hang over one bed and hope to have a dolphin or shark art piece over the other, but we needed something large for the side wall.  I decided to go with the word SURF in 24" letters.  I found these cardboard letters at JoAnn's for about $10 a piece, but got them for less with coupons!

I used leftover blue paint that had been used on the bedroom furniture to paint the letters.  You could probably use spray paint as well, but I wanted to make sure the shades matched exactly.  After the letters had dried, we used velcro picture hanging strips to hang them on the wall.  The letters were light enough that the velcro would work, plus it won't ruin the wall.

I'm super happy with how the letters came out and how much of the wall they take up.  Now we just need to work on the other artwork for over the beds.  Have fun thinking for the perfect word to hang on your wall!

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Octopus Canvas Art DIY

With all of the painting, projects, and renovations that we have going on at our beach condo, we were in need of some inexpensive wall art.  We have some big walls, so I wanted something larger than would make an impact.  We didn't have a lot of time before our renters would be in town, so I needed some artwork that I could make quickly as well.  I needed a beach theme and I loved this octopus I found on the internet.

To make this DIY Octopus Canvas print you will need Mod Podge, a foam brush, a canvas size 24" x 36" inches, and a black and white graphic drawing.  I had a canvas frame that I took off another canvas that I spray painted silver, but you could also hang it unframed.  Paint the edges of your canvas a coordinating color for the framed look without the expense.

Source: The Graphics Fairy Octopus

I found this Octopus graphic at The Graphics Fairy.  I saved the graphic to my computer.  I then went to Staples online print shop and ordered an engineering print 24" x 36" of this graphic.  The site warns that this type of copy is not suitable for photos, but this octopus graphic came out great.  Cost: only $4!

To attach your print to the canvas, use your foam brush to apply a heavy coat of Mod Podge to your canvas.  Press your print onto the canvas, smoothing out the bubbles.  I wish I had put a heavier coat of Mod Podge on my first layer.  I think this would have helped it adhere better and reduced the number of wrinkles.  Allow to dry and then paint a layer of Mod Podge to the top of your print.  Allow to dry and continue to add Mod Podge until it is securely attached.  

Now you can frame your canvas and hang it on the wall.  I love how big this print is.  Plus, after a 50% off coupon from JoAnn's, my canvas was under $15.  Making the total of this project Under $20.  Looking for a different theme?  I'm sure you could find a great black and white graphic for whatever look you need.

We've done as much work at the condo that we could before the renters came.  While we won't be able to visit for a couple of months, I'm looking forward to getting back there to actually enjoy it soon.  Of course, there are still quite a few projects we would like to do as well.

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Wood Plank Accent Wall at the Beach Condo

We knew we wanted to make a statement on the staircase in our new beach condo.  A big impact, but still be simple and beachy. This Wood Plank Accent wall was just that.

This was our Before staircase.  Still don't like the yellow and the table with lighthouses seemed like an accident waiting to happen.  Plus it was just cluttered looking.  The first thing was to paint!  We didn't have to paint the whole back wall since we would be covering it up, but we did paint into the edges a bit to make sure no yellow showed through.

I found this plank paneling at Lowe's.  Each pack come with six pieces of 8 foot tongue and groove paneling.  We were able to do our stairway wall and another smaller project for a little over $100.

Starting at the bottom of the wall, we lined up our pieces with the base board and nailed in place.  The pieces had to be trimmed in order to fit our six foot wide area.  Stack your next panel in place with the grooves and nail in place.  Continue up your wall.

Once we got to the top of the wall, we were left with a small gap.  It wasn't big enough to add another strip of paneling, so we found a piece of quarter round molding that we were able to nail in place as well.

After all pieces were in place, we stained the wood with a medium/light stain.  Do a smaller section at a time so that you can keep your color relatively even.

We also used this wood plank accent on the wall above our fireplace in our Family Room Makeover. I love how the two projects tie together.

After the stain was dry, we hung our flamingo canvas and added a large vase.  A simple and inexpensive project that we completed in about half a day.  I really think it makes a big impact for the money we spent.  Love how it turned out!

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Beach Condo Family Room Makeover

On New Year's Eve, we finally closed on our beach condo.  This is going to be a place that we can use for family vacations, but also a place we can rent out to help cover the costs of owning it.  Our first day as owners was not as exciting as we thought it would be.  Our New Year was saddened by the loss of our first furry baby.  We had to say good-bye to our beloved Tyke.  We miss him, but remember him as the loving pup he always was.

Despite the cheery yellow color, we were not too enthused by the bright decor of our new beach house.  It will definitely be a work in progress.  The progress will have to halt for a while too since it is booked for the next two and a half months.  However, we did have most of a month to get some work done.  I wanted to share the hard work we have done so far.  Our first task was to tame the bright yellow and to get rid of that mirror above the fireplace.  The mirror was quite easy to remove, but the color was not.

It took quite a few coats of paint to cover the yellow.  The blue plaid couches weren't our favorite either.  The biggest pain was the fact that all the moldings, fireplace, and doors were a dirty color. Painting all those items will probably go unnoticed now that they are done, but had to be freshened up with some white paint.  The little details took a lot of work, but they will be worth it in the end.  It really does make the place look so much cleaner.  So glad we were able to change out those couches!

We can't really afford to do everything at once, but we knew we wanted to make a big impact with what we could change.  Other changes will come in time.  Can't say enough about how much you can change with some paint.  Love the new color!  A few accents to make it our own and it is starting to feel like home.

The wood accent wall above the fireplace was pretty simple, but gave a great beachy touch as well.  We did the same process up the stairway landing, which I shared Here.  

We have been working like crazy and I'll be glad to have a normal weekend again, but I'm sad that we will have to take a break from this place to share it with some renters.  I hope they enjoy the place as much as we have so far!

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