Electrical Box Eyesore DIY Fix

One of my favorite DIY projects I have ever tackled was at our former craftsman style 1940’s house.  The goal was covering up a HUGE electrical box panel in our dining room.  I wanted something that could easily be removed because living in an older home meant accessing it frequently.  Sorry, the house is a wreck and the  picture is awful because I didn’t know I would eventually share it with the world.  You can see originally I just hung on wall but then later I had a contractor add the box and hinges, which I still prefer.   In our home now it hangs over our electrical box in the stairwell. Why don’t builders stash that ugly thing where it won’t need to be covered?  Anyway, I saw a smaller one on another blog and wanted to try it but with a larger canvas.  I wanted a custom art piece instead of a photo. After researching “painters tape art” I was ready to go.

Step by Step

First, you want to paint the entire canvas, including the sides whatever color you want to be under the tape. This is what you will see when you move the tape so you don’t really want it to be the blank canvas.  Let it dry completely.  Then, put your painters tape down.  I started with two perpendicular lines then added more, criss-crossing the original two lines, remembering to extend the tape & paint over the sides. Smooth over all the edges with your fingers. Next, paint it with same base color again, making sure you get the edges OVER all the tape.  This ensures if you do have any bleed through, what you will see is your base color on top of your base color and NOT the art colors on top of your base color.  Clear as mud?  Good.

Finally, you are ready for the FUN part.  We simply used wall paint that I already had leftover from colors in our home.  We used painting sponges and as you can see, my son and niece were eager and capable of helping.  They even signed the side of the canvas, taking credit for their part in our masterpiece.

You can see above where I evidently missed the second coat of under paint on top of the painters tape.  But, the other lines are crisp and sharp. The key to the clean lines is the second coat of base color. I hope you try this and share your results with me.