Sometimes when you're trying to figure out what to hang on your walls, it makes sense to come at it from an abstract angle first. Rather than just shopping for what you like or hanging what you might already have, sometimes I think it's best to imagine what would be right for the room and for the wall space. Especially in a room like a laundry room where things can and should be a little more light-hearted and not so serious.
The long stretch of wall to the right of the storage cabinets was crying out for a big statement piece of art and the small bit of wall to the left of the window also needed something. I think every room needs a mirror - it adds light and a different dimension to the space. So I set off to IKEA with my wall dimensions in hand to figure out my options.
I found this little oval mirror for about $15 and a pack of bright red clothespins.
And I found this giant 55" tall canvas on sale in the art section.
(More after the jump...)For the large art, I picked one of the canvases that was the most mono-chromatic. 
And then I painted over the image just with some of the leftover paint from the cabinets in the laundry room. I didn't want any of the old image peeking through the final product.
I was going to leave the frame silver, but decided to paint it out black at the last minute to give the space some dark contrast.
I found an image online that I liked (this one is by Phillipe Halsman and I used the file found here). You don't need to be too worried about finding a high-res image with this printing process - the highly pixelated look sort of works here. Also, I don't really want to bring up the subject, but I think it's worth mentioning that I felt okay using this image for this project since it is a really old image and I'm just using it for personal use in my own home. If I were selling these prints, I would definitely be more sensitive about copyright laws. I'm sure we all fall on different spots on the spectrum here, and this is where I felt comfortable. :)
I carefully cut out the print (which I had printed to exactly match the size of the canvas). And then once the paint on the canvas was dry I used a strong spray adhesive to adhere the paper to the canvas.
I don't have a photo of the next step, but I used mod-podge to glue down the edges, so everything is glued down nice and flat. The only tricky part was getting the seam right, but I don't think it's too noticeable in the end.
There were a couple of spots that I touched up with some dark gray paint and that worked well.
And then for the mirror, I just super glued the red clothespins right to the surface of the glass. I used a super glue that said it would work with glass and I think that really helped.
Also, I let the mirror sit untouched for a full 24 hours. I usually get impatient with superglue projects and move them too soon, but this time I think letting the glue sit for a good long time did the trick. :)
I love how the overall effect is a bit like a sunburst mirror.
It's fun to have wall art in here that is really unique and that only cost about $60 for everything. Success!
Have you done any cool DIY art projects lately? I'd love to see!
