DIY Wall Art Ideas for Coastal Decor

Dear Chicago House,

I really gravitate to a coastal style of decorating, I like simple lines and cool color palettes. I know I live a long way from the sea but Lake Michigan almost looks like an ocean to me (oh, except when a Polar Vortex descends and it looks like this) and that will have to do.

Much of the artwork I have on my walls takes it’s inspiration from the seaside as I showcased recently in a vignette I put together for Mr Chicago’s home office. So I thought I’d talk about ideas for creating your own coastal decor artwork.

DIY Wall Art Ideas for Coastal Decor

Beach Finds

Shells, pebbles and even beach glass look great framed in shadow boxes and are so easy to pull together

Driftwood

A beautifully weathered piece of driftwood can look great as a standalone accent on a mantle. Smaller pieces are just as gorgeous and can be used to create unique pieces like this seahorse. Full instructions on how you can make this are here

Stencil Art

I used a stencil and created a color gradient akin to sea water – easy instructions here

String Art 

The design  possibilities are endless when it comes to creating art with string. I chose the words SEA and SAND when making this piece and used string to fill in the negative space. This project takes quite a while to complete but the result is spectacular – I have quite a few requests to purchase this piece. It is not for sale but I will gladly take commissions to create another one! If you’d like to have a go creating it yourself a tutorial is HERE

Crack open you paint box

This simple abstract watercolor of the sea was create with simple bands of color. Once dry I added thinner lines in blue .

Bead Art

Miss Chicago teen made these sweet seed bead creations.

I hope these ideas give you some inspiration to create your own DIY artwork.

Love from

Creative in Chicago

XX