Monogrammed Wall Hanging Tutorial

I'm in the process of re-doing Emmie's bedroom {and I recently blogged about the perfect {barely there} gray paint for her room}. I was sad to take down some of her fun wall decor, like this DIY monogram wall hanging that I made! I blogged about this quite a long time ago. But I thought this was a great opportunity to share the tutorial with you yet again!

It looks like her monogram is painted directly on the wall....but it's really a framed piece of art.

Here is a quick tutorial on this optical illusion. You can create a framed monogram that looks like it's part of your wall in just a few easy steps.

1. Select a frame.

My frame was a champagne color, which wasn't the color I wanted for her room. I spray painted the frame a chocolate color and used steel wool to lightly distress the frame, letting the gold undertones come through.

2. Cut plywood to fit in frame.

Measure the opening of your frame from the back. Cut a piece of plywood (or have Lowe's cut it for you) that fits inside the frame, without the glass. Make sure that both the plywood AND the back of the frame fit in the opening. This may require a thinner piece of plywood than expected.

3. Spray the plywood with wall texture.

After reading the label on the can, spray your plywood with the suggested amount of texture. If you mess up, remember there is always the back side of the plywood! But honestly, I don't think you can mess this step up.

4. Paint plywood.

After the wall texture dries, paint your plywood the same color as your wall.

5. Print out letters for monogram.

You can use vinyl letters for this step, or you can print them using your computer. I don't have Photoshop so I did mine the old school way....cut and paste! Using a photo copier, I enlarged the letters to fit onto the wood. Then I cut and taped them together, making sure it was spaced an appropriate amount.

6. Trace letters onto plywood.

Place a piece of carbon paper behind your letters and begin tracing. The carbon paper will leave an outline of the letters on the plywood.

7. Paint letters.

Using an acrylic craft paint in a dark chocolate color, I painted the monogram. This may take about 20 or 30 minutes, depending on how much of a perfectionist you are. You may want to grab a diet coke and turn on some music or the tv while you work.