 Do you have a large section of wall that is empty and crying out for color? Can't find a piece of art large enough to fill it or affordable enough to buy? Well, I've got a project for you. Find some fabric you love and turn it into art for your home! By building a basic wooden frame and stapling your fabric across it, you have a piece of art you can make to fit any wall size or color scheme.
This project is surprisingly simple. I was able to complete an 8x4 foot piece in less than 2 hours. You'll need the following material: - 1 inch x 1/2 inch pieces of wood that are cut to the size of your desired piece of art
- A staple gun
- Fabric of your choice that is at least 12 inches longer and wider than your finished frame
Step 1: The frame
 The first step of the process is to build your frame. You can make any size frame you want. I wanted something large so I did 8 ft by 4ft. This required four 8 ft pieces of 1x1/2 inch lumber. I left two of the pieces uncut. These were the top and bottom of my frame. The other two pieces I cut in half to make the side and support pieces. Since my frame was so long, I thought two support pieces in the middle would add more stability.  Once the pieces are cut to length, you can join them using a staple gun. You could use nails and hammer, but I found a staple gun to be quick and easy. You can see a closeup of the joints in the picture. I put staples in all the joints then flipped the frame and did staples on the other side of all the joints. Step 2: The fabric  Next you need to get your fabric and cut it to the correct dimensions. You want to cut it at least a 12 inches longer than your frame in both directions (width and length). Lay your fabric flat on the ground with the wrong side facing up. Place your wooden frame on top of the fabric and center it.  You can now begin folding the edges of the fabric over the frame and stapling it in place. The "experts" always suggest stapling on one side then stapling directly across on the opposite side. They say this helps keep the tension even. For a piece this big, I found that too much trouble. Instead you can staple all along one side, then staple along the opposite side keeping even tension.  Be careful around the corners as you want to keep them crisp. I don't really know how to describe this, but I think you know what I'm talking about. Or you can figure it out as you go along.  After you have finished stapling the fabric to the frame, you need to trim any excess fabric. This just makes for a cleaner look. The pictures above of the staples were actually taken after I trimmed the fabric. Before I trimmed, I had quite a bit extra. Good scraps for future projects ;) Step 3: The Hanger  You are almost complete with your project. Now all you need to do is create a mechanism for hanging it. There are kits you can buy with hanging hardware, but I was too impatient to make a trip to Home Depot for that. Plus, I had a cheaper way to do it. I drilled a screw into each of the middle support beams. Be careful not to screw all the way through; you don't want to tear the fabric. You'll also want to leave the head of the screw sticking out a bit.  I then took some wire I had laying around and wrapped the end around one of the screw heads. I pulled the wire across to the other screw head, and wrapped it around there. Be sure to wrap tightly and well as this will be what supports the piece on the wall. Step 4: Enjoy  Now you just put a nail or screw in your wall and hang up your new piece of art. Suddenly you no longer have a huge bare spot on your wall. And the best part is that when you grow tired of the print, just rip off the fabric and add a new design. Easy and cheap - just like my best friends.
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