Children's Art Gallery at Home

Having 3 kids means we have a constant turn over of drawings, certificates and other pieces of work at home. I do think it’s important to appreciate the things the children have done that have taken time and effort. But let’s be honest, we can’t keep every thing they create; we’d have no room for anything else!

To solve this problem I have created this bright and exciting Children’s Art Gallery at Home to display their work before it either makes its way to the recycling bin or the memory box. The children absolutely love the art gallery and it means their creations are sorted and out of the way as soon as they appear in the house. If it’s not good enough for the wall it goes on the kitchen sideboard and soon after, the recycling.

How to Make a Children’s Art Gallery at Home

Making the Children’s Art Gallery at Home is so simple and cheap. Scour the charity shops for old picture frames. Don’t worry if they’re a little bashed or the paint is peeling off, as that will be painted over. I found that moulded frames worked really well as they create lots of different textures on the wall. You will also need to order some string, art and craft pegs and a staple gun. The Works, Hobbycraft and Amazon all sell them. Finally, you will need a can of spray paint in the colour of your choice (or maybe two cans depending on the number of frames you paint). I used Craig & Rose Artisan High Performance Enamel Spray Paint in Dandelion Yellow from Homebase. It is pricey at about £10 but has great coverage and dries 10x faster than regular spray paint. It is definitely more cost effective than cheaper versions.

Instructions:

Remove the fixings, glass, back board and pictures from the frames and recycle. You only need to keep the frame itself. Spray paint the frames following the manufacturers instructions and leave to dry thoroughly.

Thread two pegs onto a length of string and stretch the string across the width or length of the reverse of the picture frame. Staple the string into place using the staple gun and make sure you pull the string tight and knot it round the staple at each end.

Hang your picture frames on the wall in any arrangement you like. I didn’t hang my frames like you would normally do them as there is no back to the picture. Instead the simplest and quickest way I found to hang them was to use a long tack inside the top left and top right corners of the frame. The frame can easily be lifted on and off the wall on these tacks. If the frame stands off the wall slightly, use a bit of blu-tack to hold it down.