Window Screen Art

The Headlines:

Want some art for your wall?

Buy a painting.

Or do something different.

When I was a kid, yea a long time ago, I would bring a friend home from school.  They'd come in... and chuckle.  There were always odd little scenarios everywhere you looked.  Our beach house was far from the norm.  There weren't cool, new furnishings.  There were old, odd things placed in nooks and crannies.  My mom.  Her decor... was unusual.  There was an old bird cage - with no bird in it.  A torn up mannequin (better known as a dress form) but no seamstress.  A peeling Coca Cola cooler, with no soda in sight.  My personal favorite(s)?  The school desk she found on the side of the road, the huge radio she got in her crazy Aunt's attic or maybe it was the bench she took (with permission of course) from an old, abandoned church while we were on vacation in the midwest.

Thank you Jesus.  

Turns out Mom was before her time.  She was Shabby when it wasn't Chic.  She was distressed when that was just stressful.  She like ripped when it was rare.  Her taste was true to her own self.  Trendy she was not.  But her unique style was classic with a twist of her kind of cool.  

Am I like her?  No.  BUT do I take some cues from her never written rule book?  Sure do.  

Like this...

I recently did this for someone else after she was inspired by what she saw at my own house.  I put up a window screen "frame" in my living room.  It's one of the first blogs I did years ago because it was one of the quickest, cheapest and easiest updates I ever did!  Excuse the XOXO from the picture below... it's Valentines Day soon.

You can see the full blog HERE 

Now, the room below needed something bigger.  As you can see... this lonely little art piece looked a little out of place and just couldn't carry this large of an open space.  Screens were perfect.  Mixed with this homeowners Rugged/Rough/Glam "Defined Style" it totally works!  Read more about "Defining Your Style"  HERE

So how do you pull off this unique look?  It's clearly not that hard.

Find Your Window Screen 

This won't take much effort because old screens are kinda everywhere.  For now.  They're often overlooked in antique shops or at salvage yards because I'm not sure people know what to do with them.  Until now.  Due to that,  the cost is significantly lower than windows.  I chose one large screen for my house.  For the other house, we went with three big screens.  She wanted to make a statement and the room is very large.  It completely holds your attention.

Decide What to Feature

I like pictures or fabric.  My client went with fabric because she has lots of pictures on the walls.  I went with pictures because I have no pictures around.  Beware, some fabrics won't be very prominent behind a screen.  These fabrics were bold and sparkly so they could be seen.  You need to test swatches.  What you like in the store might not work in your house (behind a screen)!  You can easily staple fabric.  Or mount your pictures to the wall.

Hang Them UP

This step is easy, screens are light.  Project is done.

Well that was difficult, not difficult.  But it certainly is hard to ignore how fabulous the place looks because of something someone might have otherwise thrown away.  

Yea, long ago my Mom was ahead of her time.  Today... I'm just trying to catch up.   Aren't we all?

Pin for later: