Pottery Barn Knock Off How To!

Source: Paisley Pink Polk A Dots

When I saw this on Pottery Barn's website I knew that it would be perfect for my sister. It's totally her style. It's not for sale through the website anymore, but I can only imagine the price tag on something like this!

Photos from Pottery Barn here.

So, I decided that I should just make my own! I used a 20x16 canvas that I got at a garage sale for $2. I read on Little Blue Boo's blog about mod podging newspaper or phone book pages on your canvas to be able to sand it down at the end, and give it a more rustic and distressed finish.

 Here's what it looked like after it was covered in phone book pages.

 Then, I painted over the whole thing in an antique white acrylic paint. When that was dry I went over that with a bright white acrylic paint. I didn't cover the whole thing, but more in random places to give it a streaky effect.

 Once that was completely dry, I found my center and drew lines in pencil so that I could work in sections. For the numbers I used my Silhouette to cut out vinyl letters. I google searched "Pottery Barn Numbers Canvas Font" just to see if anyone knew which font they were. Lucky for me, Stephanie Lynn over at Under the Table and Dreaming had made a cute mini version and told us what fonts she used to make hers. So, I played around with mine until I liked it the best. I ended up using two fonts: Engravers MT and Century Schoolbook. I typed them into word and then went back and forth between my document and the picture that I had from Pottery Barn to decide which number fit best.

 I kept working in sections to make sure that all of my numbers fit correctly.

After I got all of the numbers places where I wanted them I used my brayer to make sure that all the edges were really stuck well. At this point I was busting at the seams to go spray paint it and see what the finished product would look like! 

I took it outside and gave it two good coats of flat black spray paint. I made sure it was completely dry and then brought it in and peeled away the vinyl letters! Loved it! But I knew I would love it better after I sanded it. I just used a piece of fine grit sandpaper, wrapped it around a block, and really hit the edges and where my phone book pages were a little crinkled.

 I was so super happy with it!

 I had to test it in my house before I gave it to my sister. I thought for a minute that I should just keep it!! :) Just kidding! I love the way the edges look and the crinkles. It really makes it look like a sheet of canvas.

Take that Pottery Barn!