Cheap Art

So the other day my Honey comes back from the Dollar Tree and hands me this "home improvement" book by Ty Pennington.

This was obviously put out pre-Extreme Makeover, way before his "move that bus!" days, when he was just some cocky hot-headed carpenter on Trading Spaces. (Man I loved that show!)
Anyway, I think Honey got it for me in hopes that I would learn to depend on him less when it comes to DIY home repairs, but what he really got me was some soft-core porn and design inspirations. You think I kid...


It's full of basic repair stuff that you can find more informative on the net, but I did enjoy seeing how he redid his own house. He really does believe in leaving things natural and recycling. Simple and nice. The style was really masculine and a modernized throw-back to the rusts, olives, and harvest golds of my early childhood. The clip art before each chapter really caught my attention and I realized that it was a great color pallet for the Scientists room.

Remember this quick collage on his wall?


It's been in need of a revamp. His awards from 1st grade are now put away and saved, and his new ones are going in frames above his desk area. That leaves his bug collection and his eye chart.

Here were a few of my favorite pages, torn (with delicate care obviously) from the book.

They aren't magazine pages, they are more durable like poster board. From left to right, "outlet" , "foot print", "peg board" , "maze", and "angry beaver" lol

I trimmed them up to fit in frames I had on hand.

As you can tell, I had to lose a lot of the image because my frames were small, and I meant to uniform them all with spray paint in matching frames, but instead I used a little metallic paint and a little black gloss. I needed to use up a few cans that were "almost empty". That is how you achieve the mix and match look of a collage though. You use what you have and you make it work. I tend to be super matchy-matchy and my OCD side had to be taped, bound, and thrown into the dark closet of my mind. lol

Then I tried a few layout options.


I wasn't feeling the green page with the foot print. It seems weird to put someone else's print on the wall, but I did love the green. I modified the "outlet" page and put it on the green background. The "cord and plug" was an image stolen from a different page in the book. I also added the shelf, dino, and expanding color ball (items laying around the scientists room) to break up all the orange.

And here it is on the wall with a few ideas thrown in by the Scientist himself. By the way, love the Hercules Hooks! (Dollar Tree)

I think it's fun! I like that he can touch all of it and interact. A lot more fun than this:



And I have to say, seeing all his robots there at the end of the bed vs how it looks now:


Really shows how much his interests have stayed in the same subjects (robots, bugs, electricity, etc..) but evolved in just a year.

Thanks for reading!