Get inspired: Wall art ideas from Habitat ReStore
Transforming light switches into one-of-a-kind wall art
My DIY brain explodes with inspiration at Habitat ReStore. With the everyday hustle of making school lunches, meeting deadlines and emptying the dishwasher, my creative soul needs my brain to relax and unplug from those stresses and get those blissful ideas to make something I’ve never seen before.
Being creative after a busy day can be a huge challenge, though. It’s unusual to have an idea that I can’t easily find on Pinterest, Instagram or a Google search. But like a happy Habitat ReStore shopper, I open my eyes and move slowly through the Philadelphia Habitat Restore showroom. I never know what I might find around each corner, and this time I found a pile of light switches for 99 cents each. Score!
DIY wall art ideas
While a more practically-minded home improvement DIYer would pass by that pile unless there was an electrical project in the works, I’m not always known for my practicality. My artist soul had wall art ideas, with the switches painted in a non-light switch color and mounted on a distressed wood backer.
Since I like a quick project, I chose to use spray paint for the color and a torch with sandpaper to distress a newer piece of scrap wood I had at home. The color? It’s a pretty shade of blue called Bahama Sea. After I got home, I spray primed the light switches with spray paint so it would dry quickly, cover evenly in all of the nooks and crannies, and adhere to the plastic and metal pieces.
After the primer was dry, I then spray painted that pretty shade of blue and sealed the switches with a rust protector clear coat.
For this wall art I wanted a backer to provide texture and contrast to the industrial look of the light switches, so I distressed a piece of wood. First I gauged it with my hammer, both as a fun activity and an easy way to make some wear-and-tear marks. Then I sanded the gauges so they looked like they had been there longer than a minute.
I grabbed my handheld torch to make burn marks in the wood. When using a torch I always start out several inches away from my work and wear safety glasses and gloves. For this project, I actually tried to make burn marks, so for a few areas in the wood I got about an inch away to really heat it up.
My light switches were dry and ready to place on the backer, so I put each switch in position on the board.
Then I measured and fastened the switches, being careful to keep my tape measure handy as the switches have a tendency to wiggle when the first fastener goes in.
I’m delighted at how this DIY project looks, and I’m tickled that the light switches on the wood are in the shape of those four simple yet powerful letters: L-O-V-E.
And I love how this love light switch looks on the wall, too.
Theresa co-hosts the MyFixitUpLife talk show with her husband Mark, who is her partner at work and at home. She is the designer for Food Network’s ‘Save My Bakery,’ and designed for Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. She is a licensed contractor, certified color consultant, and certified aging-in-place specialist with a focus on Alzheimer’s. She is an author of Do-It-Yourself Home Improvement, DIY Quick Fix, and Complete Guide to Shelves & Built-Ins.