DIY Large Wall Art and Winter Landscape Printable

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How to make your own large scale wall art with a modern frame to look like a $1,000 high-end piece for under $50.

We are soooo close to finishing this master bedroom makeover that I can barely stand it. It’s killer waiting around for two throw pillows to arrive in shipping but then the whole tamale is DONE!

I feel like I’ve been saying “we’re so close” for two months now, but ya know… Christmas and kids home on winter break and all that.

For real this time. Okay? Pinky promise. And this little art project for this space might be one of my favorites in the history of ever!

I looked everywhere for large scale art that we could put over our dresser, and kept coming up with either art that was within our budget but not my style at all or art that I absolutely loved but had a $1,200 price tag. Champagne taste on a beer budget… story of my life, I tell ya.

So Robert and I set out to make our own art… as always. Just how we roll.

I found a beautiful winter scene first by searching through old art archives until I stumbled upon this public domain image called “Harlem Valley Winter” by Ernest Lawson. Even though it’s technically “winter”, the colors are neutral enough that I plan to keep it up year-round.

I had it printed in the largest size on a blueprint at Staples like I usually do. Some people have reported that their local Staples won’t print images on blueprints for them (no idea why that varies for each store), so if you run into that, you can also try Office Depot or OvernightPrints.com as an alternative. More info about that below.

Here’s what we did to turn it into large wall art.

(Some affiliate links are provided below. Full disclosure here.)

DIY Large Wall Art

Supplies Used:

• Large blueprint of image (print instructions at the bottom of this post)
• Tape measure
• Pencil
• Scissors
• 1/2 thick plywood
• 1/4″ lattice strip
• Circular or miter saw (We use this one)
• Nail gun
• Stain of your choice (We used Minwax in Weathered Oak)
• Stain/paint brush
• Elmer’s spray adhesive
• Old credit card

Steps:

1. I knew I wanted a large square piece of art, but since the image was horizontal, we had to cut it down to a square size with a good ol’ pencil and scissors to be 36″.

2. Once we knew the size of the blueprint, we could measure and mark the plywood. Subtract an inch from your blueprint’s dimensions to use as the cut dimensions of the plywood. (So we marked our plywood at 35″.)

3. Cut the plywood with a circular saw or miter saw.

4. Roll out your blueprint on top of the plywood piece to make sure it fits and has a half inch overhang of paper all around.

5. Start on one end of your plywood by carefully lifting the blueprint and spraying the top edge of the plywood with spray adhesive.

6. Press the top of the blueprint down to adhere it to the plywood.

7. Spray the rest of the plywood piece and carefully unroll the blueprint, smoothing it down to adhere it to the plywood as you unroll.

8. Use an old credit card to press out any air bubbles and let dry.

9. Cut two lattice strips to be length of your plywood (35″ in our case) and cut two more lattice strips to be the length of your plywood + 1/4″ (If you want, you can miter the corners of your lattice strips, but we kept it simple with straight cuts.)

10. Stain the lattice strips and let dry.

11. Lay your plywood art piece on top of a couple of lattice strips (pictured) to elevate it on your flat work surface

12. Fold the 1/2″ overhang on your paper against the edge of the plywood and attach two lattice strips to the top and bottom of your art using a nail gun.

13. Repeat step 12 on the sides.

14. Attach eye hooks and wire to the back to hang.

Done!

It really was so easy and makes a great beginner DIY, if you’re new to using power tools.

I’m so totally thrilled with how it turned out, and it only cost less than $50. Sure beats $1,200, huh?

And it pops perfectly against that luscious black paint. Mmmmmmm.

If you want more art and wall decor ideas, you can find a bunch more here.

I had to do some reformatting of it to make this winter landscape art the right resolution for large scale, so I turned it into a printable, if you want to copy our process (or just to print in a smaller size from your home printer to stick in a frame).

You can snag the downloadable print yourself by clicking here to subscribe or click this button:

If you’re already a blog subscriber, you should have already received the free downloadable printable set in your email (or just click the printable library link with the password that’s at the bottom of all of my emails).

Print Directions:

• Download the winter landscape print from the Bless’er House Printable Library (password in your email).
• Go to Staples.com
• Click “services & solutions” -> “printing services” -> “blueprints” -> “36″x48″″ -> “design now” -> “color blueprints”
• Click “add files” and upload the botanical print images
• Click “orientation” -> portrait
• Click “add to cart” -> “proceed to checkout”

*Some of y’all have reported your local Staples not printing these as engineer prints (it varies by location). If you need a great alternative, you can try Office Depot or overnightprints.com

Or you can choose to print it directly from your home computer as an 8×10 (or smaller) to stick in a frame.

You like?! Me lurv!

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