Junior Art Gallery Final

DIY an Art Gallery for your little artist

After running out of real estate on my fridge, I thought it was time to give my son a wall all his own to display his masterpieces. Plus, what better way to say a family lives here than to display your child’s artwork!

I saw a few ideas floating out there on Pinterest and came up with “my” take on creating a mini-art gallery in your home. I opted to put it in our kitchen primarily because I think it is a great place to showcase kiddie art, but secondly because I had a hideous plate fixture on the wall that I was dying to replace!

What You Will Need:

Junior Art Gallery Supplies

  • Document frames (I used five for this project)
  • Various acrylic paints
  • Varnish
  • Small wooden clothes pins
  • “Art Gallery” printout/stencil
  • Thin paint brush
  • Sponge brush
  • Eye hook screws (see picture below)
  • Thin wire (I got mine from the jewelry section)
  • Kiddie art to showcase

What You Will Need To Do:

  1. Trace your “Art Gallery” printout or stencil onto the glass of one of the frames using a magic marker. I selected a black frame so I didn’t need to paint the actual frame in an attempt to save myself a step!
  2. Once traced, take paint colors of your choosing and paint in the letters using a very thin brush.
  3. Once each letter is painted and dried, I took the black magic marker and retraced the outer edge.
  4. Then take your varnish and paint just over the painted letter. If you want to cover the entire glass surface, that is fine too.
  5. Place the glass back into the frame without the cardboard backing.
  6. To make the frames, remove the glass and cardboard backing from each frame. Paint the frames colors of your choosing. It may take a couple coats to get the coverage you like.
  7. Once paint is dried, put a layer of varnish to seal the frames and give them a nice shine.
  8. While painting the frames, I also painted several wooden clothes pins. Be sure to seal those with varnish as well when dried.
    Junior Art Gallery Steps
  9. Once frames are dried, screw in the eye hooks about 1 inch down from the top of the frame on each side. I used some needle nose pliers to help me grip the eye hooks.
  10. After eye hooks are in place, take your jewelry wire and string it through each eye hook, twisting the wire at each in.
  11. Place a wooden clip in the middle of each wire.
  12. Hang onto your wall and fill with masterpieces created by your favorite little artists!

Hope this projects brightens up your kitchen as much as it has mine!