15 Minute Wall Art for $15.

Poor Mike, he's so confused.  Confused about all the whatever mysterious things I'm up to lately.

"Can I just say something?  Don't get mad at me," he nervously says out of nowhere one evening.

"Sure babe."

"Remember that Buck Rogers show (or something along those lines, I kinda tuned out what show when he said Buck-whatever)...you laughed at something just like that, laughed at it, and now it's hanging on our wall."

After.  The first go-around after, I should say.

"So you're saying you don't like it?"

"No.  I don't get it.  You can do better than that."

Needless to say maybe, I'm a wee hesitant to share this as it may not be done.

Things are picking up around here, the pace, things are getting done.  Well.  I mean.  It's relative, heh, but I kinda definitely feel like I'm getting some sh*t done.  Finally.

Full monty here, Mike and I were tooling along a nearby city street not too long ago and espied some cool new construction houses.   Mike longingly blurted, "Iiii want a newww hoouse."  So this my attempt at giving him a "new" house.  Make quick or obvious changes to the one we have in an effort to renew it.

It's exciting.  The house is feeling good, I'm feeling good about the house.  And really, when you feel good about your house, you feel good.

That's hugely important, by the way.  There are oodles of studies out online and I know I've read a bajillion articles about how feeling good about your home, feeling good in your home, can give you a boost in multiple aspects of your life.

Ok, yeah, there are even books about it.  That's actually an excellent article, albeit lengthy, and I'm not just saying that because they're touting the benefits of yellow.  Ahem.

Many times it can be the littlest of things, a switched out plant pot or a new piece of art, rearranging a room a bit, finally fixing that one damn thing that's been driving you nuts for eons (hellooo bathroom hand towel holder thingie, you are now no longer loose and tippy thanks to replacing the wall anchors,* yessss)...

...Point is, it doesn't have to be a big major thing to bring a smile to your face and your soul.

Case in point, heh, why we're here at this post today.

About a month or so ago I got a wild hair up my tushy and started clearing out some old art supplies.  That's hard to do.  Art supplies are expensive and I'm such a freakin' packrat, I always always stop myself from clearing out, "well hm, ya never know, maybe I'll need this again someday."

But I went ahead and cleaned some out, a few, a bit.  Not a lot but some.  Hey, some is better than none.  And so I took my filled up box over to Wasteshed.  It was a two-part visit in all honesty as I was looking for some acrylic paint.

I tell ya, living in a major city does provide resources.  Hopefully there's a version of Wasteshed near you.

After choking handing over my box of art supplies, I found my paint right darn immediately but before I knew it, I was like a Dutch door, top half turning towards the register and exit, bottom half swinging deeper into the store.

I ended up with a bag full of stuff.  Sigh.  But, in my defense, it's all stuff I am going to use promptly.

They had these rolls of circle-punched wool felt, or just thick felt, and I'm a huuuuuggge sucker for felt in all its forms.  It's horrible.  Huge.  Bad.

Like I even saw stacks of just plain ol' craft felt in the store and wanted to buy it all, despite having an entire box of it in the basement.  It's serious, people, it's bad.

Immediately seeing this roll of hole punched felt though, I solved a long-standing blank spot in our living room.  Wall art.  Ahhhh haaa!

Before.  Messy Finn bed on floor.

Standing there examining the felt, ten bucks?!?!, ugh, but if I don't buy it I'll regret it forever, and I envisioned the entire piece in my head as I stood there.  Done.

Ok, now, I know.  I realize.  Yes.  Ok.  This seems a once in a lifetime find, like my 99 cent shelf.   I know, you're hollering at the screen, "Becky!  C'mon!  Not fair!"  Yes, it could very well be that this is darn near impossible to replicate.

But!  But!  Keep in mind, there are lots of one of a kind finds out there in the world.  The idea, the premise here is to keep your eyes open, keep your mind open, you never know what you're gonna stumble upon.  I'm willing to bet you can find something even cooler.

So please, don't despair.  Besides, the more I look at it, the more I wonder if I'm nuts for thinking this is cool.   I mean I do think it's cool, but...and not that I care if people laugh or say it's dumb because I surely don't...merely having a self-doubt moment.

It's probably because it's new and that spot has been bare for nearly six years, waiting to be filled with something.  It’s tough, this spot gets sun and whatever I would put there, like a painting or photo or whatever, has the potential to fade.  Mm mm, not good. 

Or maybe I feel like the whole thing is missing something.  Or maybe it's fine and I'm totally overthinking a speedy, cheap art project.

So right!!  My next stop, Menards, for a three foot piece of half inch diameter rebar, all of like three bucks or so.

Last stop?  Home.  Let's make this.

My art piece supplies.

I was so excited to make this in fact, I could barely contain myself and rushed to get through my work pile the next day as fast as I could.

Reading up on how to seal the rebar, wondering if I could use paste wax, I found this handy article.  Out came the torch and thanks to my dad's vise, I scorched the rebar.  Once it was cool enough, I slathered on the paste wax and aw cool, the rebar looked awesome!

The torching and the paste wax really gave a cool finish to the rebar.  Of course it's a sucky photo and you can't tell.

Next I cut four lengths of the circle punched felt and crammed them on.

Weaving this on was kinda tough.

I cut them kinda long temporarily as Finn's got one of five thousand of his beds there, I needed to clear his head height which is tough.  He's a tall a** dog.

I moved his bed out of the way temporarily and what did he do?  Sat on it all pouty pathetic like "moooom, why did you move my bed?!?!"  Yes, that's an arm of the new couch which I'll chat about at a later date.

Lastly, some twine and a fat galvanized nail.

Upstairs, bang bang went the nail into the wall, I tied the twine.

A lil' close up for you.

Again, version 1.

That's the version Mike saw first.  After his comments, I played with it and as a result, no comments since (unless he continues to think it's dumb which could be).

I ended up slicing a foot of rebar off with my angle grinder,* eliminating a strip of felt, and trimming them step-like.

I dunno.  Kinda modern.  Kinda abstract.

I dunno, I still like it.  

I think it's the wall color in combination with it, that appears to be my problem.  The wall is too light.  If the wall happened to be a darker color, that would solve the issue I’m having.

Anyway, so that's my 15 Minute Wall Art for $15!  Just remember, keep your eyes and mind open, you never know what you're gonna find out there!

*The screw in wall anchors and angle grinders are Amazon affiliate links.  Mwah, thanks!  Please see the "boring stuff" tab for more info.