DIY Canvas Print Wall Decor

For months now, I have been racking my brain trying to figure out what to put on the empty wall by our front door.

First, I thought about hanging one of the old windows I have, but decided against it.

Then I considered making it a gallery wall before eventually saying “nah.”

Finally, after listening to a certain song on repeat, it dawned on me — I wanted the lyrics to that song hanging on my wall — this wall!

The song I am referring to is actually a Johnny Cash poem that two of my favorite musicians, Kacey Musgraves and Ruston Kelly, put to music for the beautiful album “Forever Words.”

Since I love to incorporate earthy, natural tones in my home, I decided to print the poem on a piece of canvas and attach it to wood to create a kind of scroll look.

I actually thought it would be a quick, one-day project. However, it ended up stretching across two Sundays. The first Sunday I worked on it was spent attaching the wood pieces to the canvas and adhering the wood together using Liquid Nails (which needed at least 24 hours to dry).

The following Sunday was spent drilling holes in the wood, attaching the rope, and hanging the finished product on the wall. Just something to keep in mind if you tackle this DIY — make sure to give yourself plenty of time to complete it.

Here’s how I created this gorgeous wall art for our home:

Supplies & Tools

• Canvas roll print (any size you prefer)
  • I designed the art for my canvas roll in Illustrator using a poem by Johnny Cash, “To June This Morning.” My canvas is sized at 28×18 and was printed through Canvas Champ. (This is an affiliate link).
• Four pieces of wood
  • I got lucky with my pieces of wood and found pre-cut strips that fit the specific size I needed. However, if the hardware store didn’t have those, I would have gotten pieces cut to specification (just something to keep in mind when you’re creating your print and shopping for supplies).
• Tape measure (not pictured)

• Pencil (not pictured)

• Hot glue gun (not pictured)

• Liquid Nails

• Clamps

• Drill and drill bit

• Rope (not pictured)
• Hook (not pictured)

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Directions

Step 1

Gather all of your supplies at your work station and plug in your hot glue gun to warm up.

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Step 2

Using your tape measure and pencil, mark equal distances from the ends on your first piece of wood so that your canvas will be perfectly centered. My dad has always told me to measure twice, cut once, and I feel like that philosophy works in this scenario, too (even though we’re not cutting any wood). You still want to make sure your measurements are precise because your entire project will be obviously off center if not. Because my wood pieces are 29 inches long and my canvas is 28 inches wide, my pencil marks come in at half-an-inch on each end of the wood.

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Step 3

Once you have your measurements marked with a pencil line, lay the bottom of your canvas on top of the piece of wood you just marked and line the edges of your canvas up with your pencil marks. If you measured correctly, your canvas should fit perfectly between your marks. Hot glue the corners of your canvas to the first piece of wood.

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Step 4

After you hot glue the corners of your canvas to the wood, add dollops of Liquid Nails to the wood, trying to avoid getting any on the canvas. Once you’ve added an adequate amount of the paste, place the next piece of wood on top of that first piece so that your canvas is sandwiched between the two pieces. Take care to square up the top piece of wood with the one below it. Finally, clamp the wood together while the Liquid Nails dries. I left my clamps on for 24 hours.

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Step 5

Now that you have one end of the canvas complete it’s time to do the other end. Repeat steps 2-4.

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Step 6

When your Liquid Nails has dried and you feel confident removing the clamps, it’s time to prepare your art for hanging on the wall. Use your tape measure and pencil to determine where to drill holes through the top pieces of wood. You need to drill holes through the top pieces so you can attach your rope.

I measured 1.5 inches in from the edge of each end and marked those points with a pencil.

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Step 7

Drill through your pencil marks to create holes in the wood. For reference, I used a 5/16-inch drill bit.

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Step 8

Figure out how long you want your rope and cut a piece to size. Keep in mind that you will be knotting the rope on each end once it is threaded through the holes in the wood, so you might want to add one extra inch or two

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Step 9

Thread one end of your rope through one hole and the other end through the opposite hole so that the rope ends stick out through the front of your wood — you want your knots to be in the front. Then, tightly knot the rope edges.

Now your wall art is ready to hang.

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Step 10

Secure your hook (I used a drawer knob) to the wall and hang your art from it.

I love how it perfectly fills the space by our front door and as a Johnny Cash fan, the poem itself means so much to me — I smile each time I look over and read it.

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This is such a fun and simple DIY project. Plus, you get a beautiful piece of wall art out of it. One of the things I enjoy most about the project, though, is the fact that you can customize your canvas with whatever you want and make it as big or as small as you desire. I encourage you to find something meaningful, whether it’s a quote, a poem, or a picture, to print if you’re considering this DIY.