Darah has been bringing home art projects from daycare since she was about 6 months old. I wasn’t really expecting to start getting these types of things until preschool, but I was wrong! I’ve already had to start letting some of the art go just due to space constraints. But some of the art is precious to me, and I’d like to display it without completely cluttering up the fridge.

Thanks to Pinterest, I discovered a really creative idea for displaying children’s art! All you need is a variety of old frames and some paint.

I picked up 5 different frames at my favorite thrift store (I think they cost $7.50 total…note the family photo still inside one of them…random!). Then we headed to the hardware store and purchased 3 different sample size paints. We selected two shades of yellow and one shade of white. We then cleaned and painted each frame. Every frame is a different color (we mixed the colors is various ways). Unfortunately, the difference is shades is a bit difficult to distinguish in our frames. But I still love the pop of yellow that they bring to our dining room!

What makes this gallery idea the most successful, though, is not the paint choice. It’s the location. We put it on a half wall in between our kitchen and dining room. This puts the pieces directly on Darah’s eye level. When I decided to pursue this idea, my main goal was to have a fun way to display D’s art and to be able to switch out the featured art with ease. An unexpected bonus has been that Darah has really enjoyed looking at the pieces, herself, and talking about what she drew. It has also caused her to want to produce more art so that she can display it. She’s started asking for more art to go up, which means I need to buy some more frames!

I’m absolutely thrilled with the way the project turned out, and I’m just tickled that it has caused a heightened interest in drawing and painting for Darah. I can’t wait to see her proudly display her pieces for years to come!

I think my next step might be to get some framed art for Darah’s room so that she can have a more complex piece to examine and enjoy. I know I continue to enjoy the wrapped canvas in my room, and I think Darah would enjoy having something like that, too! Gallery Direct is having a 50% off sale on their wrapped canvas right now, which makes it a great time to buy a piece of art!

As for us, this month we welcomed a  new piece of “grown up” art into our home from Gallery Direct. Once again, we got a canvas print, but this time we opted for a more traditional framing method. Our piece looks like something that would hang in a gallery, don’t you think? It’s called Harmony. Swoooon! It hangs in our long hallway and can be admired from our living room sofa. I love it, and since I had such a great experience with our first piece of art from Gallery Direct, I’m not the least bit surprised with just how wonderful it looks.

What about you? Do you have any tips or tricks for encouraging a love of art in your children?

Disclosure: I serve as a blog ambassador for Gallery Direct. Product samples are provided as part of the program. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are strictly my own.