DIY Color Block Art


Creating a custom DIY color block art piece is easy and inexpensive to do. You can make a giant piece of artwork for your home and customize the colors to fit your personal decor. This is a project that someone with any DIY skill level can easily do.

*this post contains affiliate links

I’m so excited to share this DIY color block art project! I made this to go above our bed as a part of our recent master bedroom makeover and I am excited to share because it was such an easy and inexpensive DIY home decor project.

DIY Color Block Art

Color block style artwork has been increasing in popularity over the recent years and for good reasons. It’s an easy to way to add color to a blank wall without adding competing patterns to the space. I wanted to add a large scale piece of artwork but I didn’t have the budget to buy something, so instead I created a large piece of color block art with just a few materials. I absolutely love how it turned out!

Materials Needed

Instructions For How To Make DIY Color Block Art

  1. Find A Canvas. This can be any size, but in my opinion, the bigger the better!

I knew that I wanted something very simple to hang above our bed but I also know that large pieces of artwork can be very expensive. We had a large painting that I had bought for $40 years ago because there was a small tear in the canvas (we had just taped it from the back so it isn’t noticeable). The artwork never was quite my style, but $40 is amazing price just for that large of a canvas. I decided to try to paint over the canvas and create a frame.

2. Choose your colors.

If you saw my bedroom mood board, I was originally going to an abstract black and white painting. I actually did a black and white painting on the canvas, hung it up and just was’t feeling it. It was too modern and too busy for the room. So, I went back to the starting line and decided to do a color block painting. After trying out a bunch of different color combinations in Photoshop, I landed on a warm rust and cream.

3. Start Painting

This painting was so easy to do. The original painting had lots of texture which still comes through and I love that. If you are using a new canvas, you could add texture with thick paint, let it dry and then paint over it. I painted about 1/3 of the canvas with the rust color and 2/3 cream. I just used leftover “Simply White” from the bedroom walls.

It took a few coats to get the canvas fully covered. I experimented with sanding it in spots to get some variation in color, but in the end, I liked just the two solid colors.

Since I knew I would be adding a frame, I didn’t worry about getting the edges painted perfectly. I overlapped the white over the rust and feathered it at the edge to give a softer edge. This worked really well with the texture of the canvas.

3. Make A Custom Frame

Lightly stain some boards and cut them to fit the edges of your frame.

Then, nail them right into the original canvas frame with a nail gun.

4. Hang your artwork

I like how it adds a warm pop of color to the room without making it feel to busy.

I think the frame is really what makes the whole piece come together and look less “homemade”.

Now I need to decide on some more pillows and curtains. I am hoping to have another DIY tutorial coming soon! If you haven’t seen my other master bedroom posts, check them out:

DIY Modern Bench

Bedside Table Makeover

Modern Master Bedroom Mood Board

Recent Content