crafty man cave wall art.

I know, it almost seems like that juxtaposition of words should not exist. In recent months, Bubba and I have been dreaming up plans on finishing our basement. Since he's such a sport and lets me do things my way above ground, I figured it's only fair to let him take the reins downstairs. And so the man cave plans were born.

 Anyway, my husband is a class act, and would never think of plastering posters of cars or girls in skimpy shorts all over walls that are still half-mine. I'm sure he's going to fill the space with dark leathers, faux furs, and coffee table books. But just in case, I figured I'd get him started with a piece of art that says, "I trust your judgment, but don't you dare hang ratty old posters in my house" all in one gift.

 If you're like me and type things like "DIY man art" into Pinterest, then you may have seen something like this or this or this.  I normally hate words on the wall, but loved the rustic and laid-back vibe, and thought it'd be just the right springboard for the beginning of the basement story.  So, on December 23, armed with an exacto knife and contact paper, I got to work.

It was a pretty easy process.  All I had to do was type my text into a word document, choosing different fonts for different lines.   I used Open Office, and exported it as a PDF afterwards, so that I could open it with my favorite photo editor to size to my preferred dimensions (what I actually wanted to hang on the wall).  Then I just uploaded it to Staples, had it printed as a poster, and got to stenciling.. for a long, long time.

Once I had my poster, I stuck a piece of contact paper to the front, and traced each letter out with my knife.  It took FOREVER.  I can't believe I'm saying this, but wine made it worse.  A couple of hours before midnight mass, I finished the cutting stage, and peeled each piece of contact paper from the poster backing.  Since my piece of plywood was already painted white, I could just stick the contact paper on wherever I wanted, and get to spraying the whole thing black.  Admittedly, I wish I'd taken more time to make sure everything was perfect, but it's definitely got that homemade vibe going on.

Here's the finished product:

Of course, it's not in its permanent home yet.  You know, we need stuff like drywall first.  For now, it's propped up on a shelf in our dining room.  I'm hoping to sneak it into a closet for the next couple of months, but we'll see.  I caught Bubba taking pictures of it on his phone, so I think he's pretty pleased.  Now if I could just get him to use those new running shoes I bought for him..