12 Nifty New Ways to Display Kids' Artwork
Reclaim the refrigerator door!
Reclaim the refrigerator door and try one of these innovative exhibition venues for showcasing your budding artist's work.
Keep It Simple
This super easy DIY display can be hung virtually anywhere in your house. All you need is a strip of wood, clothespins, paint, glue, and nails to create the hanging piece. Nothing beats simplicity!
Get the tutorial at I Heart Organizing.
Picture Frame Perfection
Instead of lining your walls with framed family pictures, why not display your kids' artwork? By painting different sized picture frames an array of colors and replacing the back with cork, it adds a gorgeous, rustic pop to your stairway. Your kids will love pinning up their latest masterpieces after school!
Get the tutorial at Shannon Makes Stuff.
Cute Curtain Rod
Ditch the drapes—this is an adorably creative way to show off paintings and school crafts. Use ring clips to attach artwork to the rod then sit back, relax, and enjoy the view.
Get the tutorial at Frills Fluff And Trucks.
Make a Book
Perfect for your coffee table, this adorable book shows off all of your little one's creations throughout the years. You'll never accidentally lose a piece of artwork opting for this project, which is a win-win in our book.
Get the tutorial at Paislee Press.
Country Clipboards
If you're a DIY type, test out your creativity with these country flare clipboards to display any kind of masterpiece. It's amazing how something so simple can add so much to a room!
Get the tutorial at Love Grows Wild.
Fridge Facelift
Rather than tacking your youngster's finger painting onto the fridge with a magnet, upgrade the facade of your icebox with magnetic picture frames that display art gorgeously.
Get the tutorial at How Does She.
Cabinet Creations
Jennifer Jones, the creative mom behind iheartorganizing, wanted a gallery display in her basement that would offer an easy way to change out the kids' creations. "Picture frames look so lovely and clean," she says, "but I didn't see myself being quick to switch out projects that way." Instead Jones purchased three maple cabinet doors for $5 a piece, spray-painted them white, then rolled the center of each door with Glidden's Blue Lagoon. She drilled a hole in the top of each cabinet, screwed a magnetic clip on to each, then attached a metal label holder to the bottom of each door.
Get the full how-to to create these cabinet-door art displays »
Mini Masterpieces
Space is at a premium in decorator Susie Harris's home, whose blog bears the same name. So to highlight her daughter's artistic abilities, she buys small canvas-and-easel sets ($5.99, 2.5" x 2.75"; amazon.com) and lets her 12-year-old have carte-blanche creativity. "She likes to hide them around the house to be discovered," Harris says. "And although small, the uncovered beauties—like this sunflower painting—make a sunny statement wherever she places them."
Abstract Arrangement
Sarah Jane Wright of Sarah Jane Studios came up with these Eric Carle-inspired animals created from her little artists' finger and water-color paintings. She drew basic elephant, seal, and swallow shapes to make templates (download them here). Place the templates on your child's painting, concentrating on the most interesting part of their creations in terms of color or texture, and cut around the template. Glue the cutouts to white paper, place them in inexpensive frames (these are from Ikea) and create a gallery wall.
Lay Out on a Ledge
Ana White, author of The Handbuilt Home and Ana White, exhibits her daughter's sculptures and other three-dimensional pieces on skinny wall ledges. To make, she screws three boards together to make an eight-foot ledge, which she then fastens to the wall. White suggests building multiple ledges and painting them the same color as the wall so that the art stands out. "As kids grow up, you can use the shelves to display photos or home accessories," she says.
Strung-Up Sketches
During one rainy afternoon, The Happy Home's Belinda Graham's kids created a stack of drawings and collages. So Graham grabbed a nail, hammer, colored baker's twine, and wooden clips and fashioned a clothesline to dry and display the designs. "Nailheads aren't the prettiest of things," she admits, "so I glued some buttons on the flat heads to dress it up a little."
Puzzling Picture
Anna Bond, the owner, founder and creative director behind Rifle Paper Co. suggests having the kids' drawings or paintings turned into something they can use again—like an apron, mug, or puzzle ($24.99; pinholepress.com).
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