If you’re about to walk down the aisle, chances are that you and your spouse-to-be have been devoting all of your creative energies to planning every last one of your wedding’s details—from invitation to location, from flowers to music—and considering how they can best reflect who you are as a couple. But once you’ve returned from your honeymoon, sorted through your wedding gifts, and sent out your thank-you notes, you can finally take a deep breath and think about how you want to express your style at home. Here are some easy, inventive, and—best of all—inexpensive tips for creating your own modern masterpieces for original décor, from artist and decorating consultant Lola Gavarry, author of DIY Art at Home: 28 Simple Art Projects for Chic Décor on the Cheap.

Whether you’ve just signed the lease on your first apartment or purchased your first home together, after the check has cleared and you’ve moved all your stuff in, the next sobering reality you’ll have to face is blank walls. So how do you make them your own, so that your place is truly yours instead of where you just happen to be living, but on the cheap, so that you still have a little money left over for the occasional dinner out? With just a few materials that can be found at an art supply or crafts store, you can create your very own modern art. Here’s what you’ll need to get started:

Canvas

A wide range of canvases and stretcher frames are available, in sizes and finishes to suit every mood, style, and empty wall space. The most common are white or natural-color prestretched canvases. Canvas is sometimes stapled or nailed to the sides of the stretcher frame bars, but I recommend 3-D stretchers (where the canvas is fastened to the back of the frame bars) because they don’t need any additional framing, and the sides of the canvas can also be painted to form an integral part of the design.

Acrylic Paints

These are among the most widely available and versatile on the market, and are offered at many different price points. They’re available in a wide variety of colors, but if you can’t find just the right one to complement your décor, don’t worry: They’re incredibly easy to custom-mix. They’re also made in many different formulations and sheens, from matte to high gloss, and can be mixed with special acrylic mediums and binders to create cool textural effects. Acrylic paints only take about 30 minutes to an hour to dry, so depending on the complexity of your design, you could have a finished masterpiece in as little as three hours.

Brushes

If you’ve done some painting in the past, you may already own some brushes, but if you’re just starting out with art projects, it’s easiest to buy a selection: A large flat brush (no. 18 to 24), a medium flat brush (no. 10 to 18), a small brush (round or flat, no. 4 to 10), and some fine brushes (pointed, flat, and angular). To clean your brushes, wash them with soap immediately after using them—never let acrylic paint dry in a brush—rinse them in lukewarm water, let dry with the bristles up, then store them flat and away from dust.

Basics: Drawing, Cutting, and Measuring

You’ll also need some tools for planning and executing your designs: Pencils and charcoal (for drawing directly on the canvas), red and white chalk (for transferring designs), palette knives (for applying paint and mediums to large areas) and painting knives (for adding small touches), craft knife and scissors, and compass and rulers.

Extras

Here’s where you can really make your vision unique. Get creative with papers and fabrics, both of which can be used to cover an entire canvas or cut out to make collage motifs; use crayons, paint pens, dimensional paints, permanent markers, and correction pens to add very fine details, dots, and curves; and make stencils with frisket film, or mark off rectangular areas or stripes with masking tape.

Ideas

Once you’ve gathered the essentials, you can try some simple ideas with just paint and canvas—blocks of contrasting colors, a single color blended from dark to light, or stripes or dots in varying sizes—or be more ambitious and incorporate fabric or paper cutouts, add details in marker or paint pen, or use stencils to create one-of-a-kind motifs.

I’d like to wish you congratulations and all best wishes on your new life—and chic style—as a married couple. The creative possibilities are endless!

For more information and other stylish ideas, plus easy-to-use templates, check out Lola’s book, DIY Art at Home: 28 Simple Art Projects for Chic Décor on the Cheap.

Categories: Decorating |

Tags: brides, decorating, how to, potter craft

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