Make It: Faux Wood Tropical Leaf Art

Jul 9

This Faux Wood Tropical Leaf Art was one of the fastest and easiest projects I’ve ever done! (It took an hour, tops) And, honestly, it was one of the most fun. I mean, who doesn’t like playing with stickers and stencils??

It’s like being a kid again, except you can drink wine while you do it.

Guess what?? I refinished the kitchen table featured in these pix!
Click here to learn more. Tooting my own horn is my hobby.

Do you have a Problem Wall in your home?

You know what I mean? A wall that has some weird flaw that you don’t want to fix or don’t know how to fix and you don’t want to keep looking at it but you also don’t know what to do about it?

I have a solution for you: hide it!

Yep, cover up that ugly dent, outlet, phone jack or whatever eyesore is taunting you every time you walk past it.

In our eat-in area in the kitchen, there is an outlet about six feet off the floor, recessed into the wall, and not quite centered.

Seriously, like, what?

Materials:
(what I used is in italics below each, for reference…but get creative and make it your own!)

Thrifted or other frame, sufficient in size to cover the flaw (obviously)
Matte board from the craft store, in a size to fit the frame’s opening or slightly larger if there isn’t one that fits your frame exactly
My frame opening was 23x31 so I went with matte board of 24x36
Stain or paint in wood-colored shade of your choice for the background
Rustoleum stain in Dark Walnut
Lighter colored paint for the faux wood grain
Dixie Belle chalk paint in Buttercream
High density foam roller or stencil brush
Paper plate and paper towel
Wood grain stencil
Cutting Edge Stencils Shiplap
Wall decal stickers: tropical leaves or other design of your choice
Amazon: click here for mine
Plastic putty knife or other smoothing tool— anything firm and flat will do: cardboard, credit card, side of a butter knife, etc.
Maybe: staple gun, packing tape, or hot glue
More on why this is a “maybe” below…
Hammer and nail/hook/other hanging hardware
Paper or newspaper to make a template for hanging it

Click here for my Instagram highlight with videos and pix of this project!

Step One: Remove the backing from the frame and, if it was thrifted, whatever “art” is inside. When you do this on a thrifted frame with existing artwork inside, you may have to do a little bit of demolition. There may be paper over the back—tear it off! There may be staples holding the art inside the frame—bend them back to release the art!

Click here for an Instagram highlight that shows you this process on a different frame I repurposed.

You may also need to remove the staples completely if your matte board is larger than your frame’s opening. (See note below about your choices on the size of matte board.) To do this, grip with a pliers and shimmy back and forth until they come out.

Shimmy the pliers, not your body.
Or the pliers AND your body. But for sure the pliers.

A note about the size of your matte board:

If your matte board fits perfectly inside the opening in your frame, congrats! You will be able to insert it neatly into the opening and replace the backing. If your matte board is slightly larger than the frame opening, you have two options:

One: cut the matte board to fit exactly inside the frame. Use the art that came inside the frame as a template. Trace it onto your matte board, then use a box cutter or exacto knife to cut the board.

Two: (the easier and lazier option, which I obviously chose) leave the matte board as-is and once your artwork is completed, attach it to the back of the frame with staples, packing tape, hot glue, E6000 or chewing gum. Just kidding. Gum won’t work, but you get the idea…use what you have!

Notes/Tips: With Option Two you won’t be able to put the backing of the frame back on, but who cares? No one will see it. Also, if you use staples or packing tape to secure the matte board, you can easily remove and replace your artwork later; with glue or other adhesive you can still replace the art later but run the risk of damaging the frame and/or the art.

Step Two: Stain or paint your matte board! Swipe the stain/paint in long strokes over the board to sort of, kind of, make it look like wood grain. You will stencil over it later so don’t worry too much about how it looks at this point.

Unless you are me, then worry unnecessarily the whole time.

Let the board dry completely.

Step Three: Stencil!
**Note: you may want to practice this on a scrap piece of cardboard first to get the hang of it.
Lay your stencil on the board and use painters tape to secure it in two or three spots. Put about two tablespoons of paint on your paper plate, coat your roller or brush in the paint, then offload most of the paint onto the paper towel. You want an almost-dry roller/brush so that paint doesn’t leak under your stencil. Roll/brush over the stencil in multiple super-light coats. It should dry almost immediately. Remove your stencil, make sure it’s dry, line it up to do the next section and repeat!

Step Four: Lay out your decals.
Depending on the size of your project, your sticker/decal may come in multiple sections with a little numbered guide to show you how they go together. Before you take the backing off of your decals, lay them out on your board and set the frame on top to see what it will look like.

If your matte board is larger than the frame opening, mark the edges of the opening with painters tape or a pencil so you don’t put stickers where they won't show through the opening once it’s in the frame. (See pic on left.)

Step Five: Apply your decals!
This is challenging but fun! Peel off the bottom edge of your sticker and place it on the board. Slowly peel the backing off, smoothing with your tool as you go.

I have a video of this step in my Instagram highlights here.

If you get bubbles or it goes on crooked, no worries! Peel that section off and reapply it.
When you are satisfied with how it looks, go over it again with your smoothing tool, making sure the edges are secure.

Now do a little happy dance because your artwork is done!!

Step Six: Put it all together! If your matte board fits inside your frame (Option One from above), just put it in the frame, replace the backing and you’re done. If your matte board is larger than your frame opening, you need to attach it to the back of the frame with staples (use a staple gun, it’s fun!), packing tape, hot glue, or another adhesive. See the info above in the box titled “a note about the size of your matte board” for my super valuable insights about this!

I don’t think I need to walk you through this part.
You’re smart. You will figure it out.

But…if you want a visual…have I mentioned I have an Instagram highlight with short videos and pix?? Click here to see it!

Step Seven: Hang it up!
I find it helpful to create a paper template the size of my frame and tape it on the wall so I can hang it up and see what it will look like “in real life.” (This way you can move it around without making 47 holes in your wall.)

On your template, use a pen to mark where the hanging hardware is on your frame so you know where to put the nail in the wall. For example: If it has a sawtooth hanger, mark exactly where that center tooth is. If it has a wire hanger, stretch the wire taut up the back of the frame, measure how far it is from the top, and mark that spot.

Hang your template so it’s exactly where you want the frame to go, then hammer a nail right through that paper template where you made your mark!! Tear the template off the wall and hang your new, perfect piece of custom artwork right over that nasty problem area and never be taunted by it again!