$16 Burlap Sack Art

Life Designed

A couple weeks ago I introduced my friend to good old Lee Valley.  This store is my second favourite place to shop/peruse (Home Depot being #1 of course!).

HD is great for your typical materials but when I need something special, I can usually find it at Lee Valley- such as brass ring pulls for one of my Ikea Rast hacks and glass shelf supports for my thrift store trolley/bar cart restoration. It doesn't hurt that their prices are really affordable. 

As we were walking around, we spotted this bin:

Lee Valley

You know me... I can't resist a deal. Am I on my way to becoming a hoarder?

At least I can justify this purchase by saying it's for a good cause!

Life Designed

It's quite a large bag about 30"x 40".  We're moving in a couple weeks and the new place will definitely need some wall art so I decided to turn this burlap sack into a cool art piece!

Instead of framing it, I wanted to stretch it over a canvas but...that size canvas is ridiculously expensive- even with a 50% off coupon.

So I decided to make my own! Hello Home Depot!

I got 1-1/16" square trim @ $1.69 a foot.

Life Designed

2ea 34" pieces
2ea 21" pieces

No, those are not typos. I customized the size to fit the graphics/text- with enough give to wrap around the trim. 

Life Designed

I used wood glue to adhere the pieces together.
Since this is a fairly big piece, in order to give it some support, I used left over foam board from old school projects, cut it to size and staple gunned it to the trim.

Life Designed

Once I stapled the 2nd piece of foam board on the trim, it was time to stretch the canvas!


Life Designed

Since burlap is quite holey, I used both layers of the bag which helped to conceal the black foam board.

Life Designed

It gets a bit tricky at the corners, but I just pulled it taut, folded the sides down.

Life Designed

Ta da! A large art piece that is quick, easy and only $16! 

Once I figure out where to hang this in the new place, I'll be sure to show ya'll!

I might even make another one- with a different design on the bag and hang them side by side but I'll have to wait until we move into the new place first!