DIY Man Art

Hello friends, (in my best Danny Beck voice)

Well Kara and I did our monthly segment for the local NBC channel yesterday. We shared some ideas for DIY art. We were so good they couldn't handle it and had to cut us short. Later the producer told us it was because of the extra tornado coverage, but I am pretty sure she was just trying to keep us humble.

As much as I loved discussing fluffy pillows and bright colors last month, I am here to share a project with you that is more in line with my personal aesthetic. It is probably the easiest project you well ever see on this blog and it isn't very expensive. I know you all are thinking, "Oh great he is probably going to show us how to replicate Ramona's vacuum." (she was the artist on the first season of Design Star) I will show you the finished product first so you can decide for yourself weather or not to finish reading.

So it definitely doesn't LOOK like our easiest project ever, right? So here is how you do it.

First, you have to figure out how big a piece of art you need. We wanted to have a high impact piece so we decided to make our piece 42" x 60". Go to either Lowes or Home Depot and have them cut a piece of Lauan to your dimensions. This should only cost you about $12. Having them cut it saves you the trouble of dragging out your tools, cleaning up your work area, and makes it easier to get home.

Next, stain your piece. Go with a color that works with your space or better yet a color you have left over from another project.

Now we need to talk about metal. There are tons of options, but my personal favorite is hot rolled steel. It is cheap and the scaling from the processing creates some depth and adds texture. Call any sheet metal shop and give them your dimensions. Sheet metal shops tend to be less customer service oriented than most stores you normally visit. Don't take it personally, just remember they are used to doing big projects and quite frankly your $15 art project isn't a huge priority, but call around you will eventually find someone is nice enough. Tell them you would like 18 gauge (that is the thickness) cut to whatever dimensions you figured out.

We decided to go with just a single wide stripe, but feel free to go wild. Add more strips, make them thinner, make them thicker, whatever makes you happy, I mean it is just money. While we are talking design variations, you could easily use multiple stain colors or even add some color with spray paint. Since I am going for a sophisticated, masculine look I went for a look that is understated and doesn't look like we are trying to hard. I wanted to highlight the material and not my artistic abilities.

Next you are ready to attach everything. We used velcro, because we don't like waiting for glue to dry, but you could use construction adhesive if you prefer.

We also used velcro to attach it to the wall, but we had to use a bunch. If you aren't attaching to a brick wall you won't need as much or if you didn't mind the look, you could put a screw in each of the 4 corners.

So for about 40 bucks we have a pretty large of piece of art that would look great in any man cave. Come on, it has to be better than neon bar lights and sports posters. At least better than Ramona's vacuum?

Well I hope everyone's March is off to a great start and I will check back with you all next week.