$10 IKEA Art Transformed

I'm a sucker for the As-Is section at IKEA. I see low tags and great potential. Sometimes it totally pays off, like when we scored that single panel Werna curtain for our bedroom re-do for $10 instead of having to buy the pair at $50. Or the castle tent (BEBOELIG) for $10 from being a floor model. Or the toddler bed (with mattress) that was also a floor model for $60 out the door. Or even the kid's kitchen that retails for $80 that we bought for $30.

We kinda sorta love scoring deals. But you guys knew that. It's just plain fun. 

This was one of the flops though. I saw potential, but this art piece sat in the basement closet for years. In an effort to declutter and sell a bunch of stuff (which was a success!), I uncovered this old piece of framed art. The goal was to take out the old art and replace it. The frame alone was totally worth $10, being quite large. I didn't want the art, though I have nothing personally against seeing the female anatomy. I just don't really want this woman hanging on our walls. 

Benjamin's been begging for projects lately, and I'm trying to use this enthusiasm from my typically art-hating kid to cultivate some learning experiences around here. Plus, it makes for a more exciting week when the kids are engaged and not tearing up the house for no good reason. Winter, hurry the heck up and turn into spring already. 

Before and after of the naked lady transformation right here and now. (Which was super fun googling to find the image because I forgot to take a "before" picture, but then it occurred to me to just look on the back of the frame for the correct IKEA name to put into the google searchbar. Um, right.)

The picture is raised, but stuck to the matting. The white matting is just stapled on the back, so really it's a frame without the backing... not as valuable of a frame. Claire and I picked up two bottles of cheap acrylic paint at Michael's for $.79 each when we went to score that grab bag a couple weeks ago. I chose teal and she chose a wine color. We had the mustard color from a year ago when Benjamin was Daniel Tiger for Halloween and I made him a DT watch to match his outfit.

We have (what seems like an endless supply of) a collection of cheap dollar store painter's tape that I don't recommend ever using to paint a room. Frog tape ALL the way and worth the cost. But for art projects? Yeah, sure. Super easy to peel off because they barely stick anyway. I painted two layers of white acrylic paint over the lovely lady and her black background and then taped away, intentionally creating a heart because I'm always thinking of Andrew and hearts make me think of how much I love him and simultaneously how much I love his brother and sister. The heart was also strategic to cover up the actual heart (and um, breasts) of the former art behind it. My next step was using plastic wrap to cover the matting because I didn't want that ruined during the kid painting session.

We started out organized and while I knew they would probably mix paint, I didn't realize it would become a goal. Dip one, two, three and then paint the art. Okay. So kids always find a way to make it more interesting. I helped a little, but mostly just participating and not trying to improve. B spent the majority of time on the heart and I spent time focusing on mustard because they didn't use much for some reason. 

We replaced some art in our formal living room (turned bounce house/playroom) after selling the furniture in there (should be a post in itself, stay tuned!) to make it a more purposeful and fun space for the kiddos. We even took the mountain goat art from our entryway and shifted art a bit elsewhere to make the spaces work better. 

bounce house deflated, but not the action this room gets... anymore! Boring to BOMB.