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Emily A. Clark

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Black and White DIY Art For My Living Room

April 7, 2017

When Mama sees the perfect art for her living room and then finds out it has a $3000 price tag, Mama quickly becomes resourceful. I’ve seen this piece used in several design projects and have always admired it. When I recently decided to give our living room a more neutral update, I pictured it over our fireplace.

Paule Marrot Abstract Artsource

 

It was created during the Art Deco movement by textile designer and painter Paule Marrot. I love how it’s simple and bold all at the same time. I also love that it’s pretty easy to recreate if you don’t have an extra $3K to spend on art. . .  Here’s my take:

living-room-art-c

floor lamp  //  pillow  //  rug  //  sofa

diy-abstract-art-mantel

 

I bought the big (30×40”) canvas at Michael’s for just $12 when they on sale. Besides that, I just needed a can of off-white spray paint, a little flat black paint, an artist’s brush, a sponge brush and some painter’s tape.

img_2835

I started by spraying the entire canvas off-white. I wanted the background to be soft like the original and less stark than leaving it white. When it was dry, I taped off the edges with painter’s tape to give it a clean border (a trick I’ve used before).

taped-edges

 

I grabbed my round coffee canister lid and a small square canvas to create my shapes and then outlined them with the black paint and a small brush.

drawing-shapes

diy-abstract-art

abstract-art

black-white-art

Time to fill in the shapes. I sponge brushed this. My reason? The sponge was 77 cents. It worked just fine. . . (I used two coats.)

diy-art

diy-abstract-art

This piece totally changed the feel of the room. (Here’s a look at what was there before.) Did you notice I also layered in a neutral striped rug? One thing always leads to another. . .

 

get-the-look

 

PS—I keep a Pinterest board of “art I like” but some of it is art I think I could actually recreate myself. . .

 

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Filed Under: artwork, Colonial house, living room, our home, Simple Design Ideas Tagged With: art, DIY projects, living room

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Sharon says

    April 7, 2017 at 8:40 am

    Impressive! I love that you used your coffee canister lid! Reminds me of using my hot roller container (it was oval-shaped) to mark out waves on my first child’s nursery walls 18 years ago. :-) I love the way the living room is evolving!

    Reply
  2. Jen says

    April 7, 2017 at 9:51 am

    I like it! Excellent work. The room looks amazing but also kid friendly.

    Reply
  3. Lori S H says

    April 7, 2017 at 9:59 am

    That’s so cool that you were able to recreate something you loved for less!

    Reply
  4. Elizabeth Kelleher says

    April 7, 2017 at 10:13 am

    I love the art! What color is your living room paint?

    Reply
    • Emily Clark says

      April 7, 2017 at 10:33 am

      Thanks, it’s Palace Pearl by BM.

      Reply
  5. Katie says

    April 7, 2017 at 12:03 pm

    So great!! Love this post!!!
    DIY art is one of my favorite things.
    Shhhh, just don’t tell Marrot, or his posterity.

    Reply
  6. Jody Olympia says

    April 7, 2017 at 12:08 pm

    You know I love a good neutral room! This is sooo good. I bet those black bookcases are a show stopper with this new art! Thanks for sharing!!!

    Reply
  7. Brenda says

    April 7, 2017 at 12:32 pm

    Emily, I love your look and creativity! I’ve been eyeing a monstera leaf for my mantel. Where did you find yours? I found one from CB2 but it is 41″ tall. I guess it can be trimmed?! Any suggestions?

    Reply
    • Emily Clark says

      April 7, 2017 at 12:36 pm

      I grabbed mine at West Elm while it was on clearance. (The stem is easy to bend.) I recently saw them at IKEA as well…

      Reply
  8. Ursula Ellis says

    April 7, 2017 at 2:20 pm

    I love them both. It’s amazing what a difference each makes to the feel of the room! I love your blog!

    Reply
  9. BLUE HYDRANGEA (Sissy Schoettelkotte) says

    April 7, 2017 at 3:29 pm

    Very Impressive!!

    Reply
  10. Sunshine says

    April 7, 2017 at 4:58 pm

    Love when you show us art masterpieces. More contemporary art please. Looks great.

    Reply
  11. Designs By Katy says

    April 7, 2017 at 7:00 pm

    I love that art piece too but I hear ya on the price tag. This looks fabulous, Emily! Love the way you styled it in the room.

    Reply
  12. Mary says

    April 7, 2017 at 8:41 pm

    You did a great job. Recreating abstract art is my new favorite thing.

    Reply
  13. Cathy says

    April 7, 2017 at 10:49 pm

    Hi ,

    I love that you did this. I also recreated this art but instead of using black , I changed it up slightly and used a neutral in its place. The result looks great .
    Congratulations on the savings you made by making your own art

    Reply
  14. Tracy says

    April 8, 2017 at 12:09 pm

    I have daydreamed of getting a Marrot print forever. Your version looks fantastic!

    Reply
  15. [email protected] says

    April 8, 2017 at 2:49 pm

    My black and white obsessed heart is absolutely in love with this. So so good!

    Reply
  16. Cindy says

    April 11, 2017 at 7:41 am

    I do believe I will be copying your copy! Ha
    This is great, thanks for sharing,

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. A Look at What we were Up to in April & Personal Updates says:
    April 28, 2017 at 6:00 am

    […] with this copycat art. A $3,000 piece looks almost identical for a […]

    Reply

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