This is not a new idea.  It’s been floating around Pinterest for awhile.  But I tried it and thought I’d tell you what I thought.

I purchased pdf printable files from etsy here. They were $3.50 for each design and I purchased 5 different designs.

This one is for my girls:  I chose the gray one for Heidi and the brown for Heather.

I also got this one for free.  There are lots of different color options over at her site.

After I got all the prints I wanted I uploaded them to the Costco online photo printer.  I chose the 16×20 poster print option (not the poster board option) for $5.99 each. I made a big mistake.  It’s automatically set to color correct which does NOT correct colors.  It makes them all wonky.  You have to un-click that before completing the order or it won’t print right.  They were kind and reprinted my order for free, but it was a hassle since I didn’t look at the prints until I got home and had to go back and stress about it.

Once I got the prints correct I headed out to Hobby Lobby.   I bought their bargain priced 16×20 stretched canvas that come 2 to a package.  I can’t remember the exact price but I think it is $6 before coupon. (But if you were planning ahead you could just grab a pack each time you went in and use a 40% off coupon on each.  Since these are already so low priced, they aren’t included when the other stretched canvases go on sale.)  I also grabbed a small bottle of craft paint to match each poster; and a bottle of matte modge podge.  Matt makes it look more like canvas.

So here’s a quick list of what you’ll need:

Drop cloth

Paint brush

Modge Podge

Stretched Canvas

Art Print

1.  First paint the edges of the canvas to match your print and let it dry.

2.  Then spread a thin layer of modge podge evenly over the front of the canvas.

Center your print on top and smooth it down so there are no bubbles.  Start in the center and work out. Let it dry. The print will look shiny and not at all like canvas.  You will wonder if you should have just spent the extra money to get your poster printed on canvas in the first place.  Hold on–it gets better.

3.  Use a bristle brush to brush modge podge over the whole top of the print.  At this point you will think you messed up. The white of the modge podge will look splotchy and the brush marks will show.  But the print won’t smear.

4.  Let it dry and cover with a second coat.  Let this one dry too.  The brush marks will give texture to the top of the print and stay after drying.  This makes it look more authentic like canvas, though the texture is not the same.

Then they are ready to hang:

The colors came out wonky in the above picture but I wanted to show you that I picked prints to coordinate with the Boy’s bath rug.  Each boy has his own color and a towel to match.  It’s a tiny room, but big enough for the boys :).

Heather’s print isn’t up yet.  She doesn’t read my blog, so I can tell you that we are planning a HUGE surprise for her 10th birthday.  Her room is still original 1972 green and orange shag carpet with walls to match.  No art, no window treatments….You  get the idea.  In August and we are sending her to the farm for the week while we surprise her by redoing every inch of her room.  I’m planning the project while we work on the kitchen, so it feels a little crazy and I’m hoping that we get the kitchen done on time so it will all work out.  Heidi is helping me pull everything together.  We have been buying things all year and saving them in a corner of my office ready to put it all together.  It will be one of the fastest room redos. I’ve done and I’m afraid we will feel like we are trying to pull off a HGTV style remodel without any staff.