I love it when a room starts to come together and you finally begin to see your vision unfold! Oh it’s a magical feeling! I am making a TON of progress on the family room makeover (it’s only been 9 months) and I feel like I’m getting closer and closer to the big reveal. Things have been moving right along until I ran out of supplies for a HUGE project and I’m not sure when I will be getting more in :( So while I’m waiting to finish the last big project in the space I thought I’d give you a few teasers with some of the smaller projects. Consider this a little peak into the room.
Today I’m sharing my DIY Eye Chart Tutorial. I’ve seen a few variations of them around and I love the vintage look at feel and the fact that they can be completely customized. You can include your family member names, a sweet saying, scripture, or just a mix of your favorite letters and numbers. The possibilities are endless. This would also make a great house warming gift or wedding gift!
I used one of my favorite scriptures for the text, “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. Psalms 37:4” It’s a scripture that I have kept close to my heart since I was a little girl and it is something I think about daily. I love that something so special and personal to me is now hanging on a piece of artwork in our home.
If you know me by now, I’m always trying to decorate on a budget and one of the easiest ways to do that is by upcycling things already in your home. Would you believe this DIY Eye Chart used to look like this?
Because I used wall art I already owned and leftover paint, this project cost was 100% FREE! You can’t beat that.
1. I started by taking apart the existing artwork.
2. I separated the canvas from the frame and painted them both white. I gave them each 3 coats of paint.
3. Next I used my Silhouette Cameo to create the template for my eye chart. I used Arial font and the top letter starts in font size 288. Each line has one extra letter than the previous and I cut the font size down roughly 50% from one line to the next. The last line of text is font size 10. (Note: There is a great website called http://www.eyechartmaker.com that helps you create a custom eye chart for free. Unfortunately this didn’t work for me because my scripture didn’t fit into their template so I had to create my own. But if you want an easy print out, head on over.)
4. I cut my text onto some dollar store vinyl to create a stencil (probably not the best but it was just for a stencil and it worked). Vinyl works great as a stencil because it sticks to the surface and you don’t have to worry about it moving around. Plus, it peels up nicely when you are done.
5. I used a basic black Sharpie to fill in each of the letters. I used a regular tip for the larger letters and then used a fine tip for the smaller letters.
6. Once I was done, I peeled off the vinyl and put the frame back onto the canvas.
It was a really simple project, you could easily do this in a few hours!
I’ll be revealing more family room details throughout the next few weeks AND hopefully by then I’ll have all the supplies I need to finish the last big project! To learn more about the direction I’m taking for the room you can view my Pinterest board here!
About Taryn Whiteaker
Taryn Whiteaker is the voice of style behind TarynWhiteaker.com (formerly Design, Dining and Diapers) ! Taryn is a previous PR/Marketing professional who got back to her creative roots after becoming a mom and now shares her passion for home decor and design for the world to see. Taryn lives in the greater Seattle area with her husband and three kids and loves coffee, the outdoors, and exploring with her family.
What a fun idea!! I love how simple it is, but it makes such a huge statement!
I love this!!! LOVE that verse too:)
Great idea and love how you made it work for so inexpensive.
Nicely done Taryn and I love the saying :) I always love when I find a diy fun project where I can reuse something I already have. Those are the best!
I just found your blog through homestoriesatoz. I love it! Love this project, and think I will be trying it myself soon.
Beautiful-and I love you were able to make it so personal!
That is such a great project, and I love using a Bible verse as the text!
Very pretty. I want to do one of these but not sure where to put it.
This is so pretty! I love the quote too!
This is such a creative and cute idea!! Love it.. thanks for sharing :)
Love the Scripture you chose… it turned out great!
Oh my goodness I am IN LOVE!!! The verse is beautiful and I love the crisp white with black… so fabulous!
please come link this up (and any other projects you like!) at our Hearts&Homes link up on mercyINKblog.com — have a blessed week :)
I’ve been a fan of eye chart art for a while, but I love how yours is so custom. I wasn’t aware that there was an online eye chart maker. Thanks for that tip! I might have to surprise my husband with one of these for our anniversary.
I have been wanting to do this for a while now. Looks fantastic.
What an adorable idea! I love unique art and especially in black and white! Hope you have a great week! Come enter my giveaway going on.
http://alivedinhome.blogspot.com/2012/06/its-giveaway-time.html
i love what i can see of your mantle!
Great tutorial! Thanks for sharing the how-tos. I’ll have to add this to my list of Silhouette projects to try :)
I love this! Would love if you stopped by mylinky party happening now to link this up!
Stacey of Embracing Change
oh goodness that is too cute! I am working on a redo in one of our bathrooms and this would be perfect!!
I LOVE this Taryn! Sounds so easy too…I’ve been seeing these personalized eye charts around, but your method and instructions are awesome. Might have to try this :)
What a fun idea! I love that they can be personalized!
This turned out adorable! Endpless possiblities with sayings/quotes here!!
I Love Love how this turned out. I have soo been wanting to do one of these myself. Awesome!
Found you via a link party and am now a new follower!
Love your eye chart~looks fabulous!
This is beautiful! So clean and crisp and white. :) What kind of paint do you use on your frames?
Congratulations on being featured on the Silhouette Blog!
This is GORGEOUS! I want to try to make one without a Silhouette.
I’d love for you to link this post to my Finished Friday Blog Party.
The eye chart is awesome! I LOVE the font type you chose for this project and how well it coordinates with the frame! Thank you for leaving a sweet comment on my beachy living room :)
How beautiful! I love what you did, the eye chart idea is so cute!
I think this is fantastic! My favorite find on tt and Jello tonight!
oh sweetness! i’m in love with this…thank you for the inspiration ? much love
Really great!
amazing project taryn!!!
This is so amazing. I love the simplicity of it and how striking it is with the white frame. I loved it so much, I shared with my Facebook readers. I stopped over from It’s Overflowing.
I love this idea.. Pinning it! Thanks for linking up at friday fun party..
Pure Sweetness. Love the verse, love the project… love that it was FREE! Thank you so much for the inspiration; can’t wait to try my hand at this! Have a happy and blessed Sunday. jules
I absolutely love the basket as well! Great styling!
I was just going to tell you I featured this today but you already saw it. LOL I love so many of your projects. I swear I could feature you every week. Thanks for always linking to the party. Have a great week!
What a fabulous transformation! I love how simple it is. Pinned!
Jenn :)
Beautiful! I love that verse… Many blessings!
Taryn–super project! I love how your eye chart turned out. Thanks for sharing that link to make your own.
gail
Awesome sauce!!
Thank you for sharing at A Crafty Soiree, I’ve featured your frames in the newest one. It’ll be up at midnight tonight, please come by and check it out :)
I love this! I found you over on Positively Splendid and can’t wait to check out more of your projects.
LOVE it, Taryn!
Featuring you!
Taryn I just love this!! The artwork is so pretty and simple but it makes such a great impact! And of course the verse is so great.
Thank you for linking up to Think Pink Sunday – I featured you today! http://www.flamingotoes.com/2012/07/crush-of-the-week-think-pink-features-56/
Great repurposing idea and I love the result! Awesome job, Taryn!
This is amazing. So professional looking and love your quote selection.
I loooove this project! All your projects look so classy and put together. You are such a great photographer, too!
Have you done a post about a room/home tour? I was looking, but didn’t see any.
xo Becca
I absolutely love this…. one of my very favorite versus and I’ve always wanted an eye chart print! I’m going to head over the website that makes them for free to see what I can come up with! Amazing job on this – what a transformation!!
Love this idea…do you want to know you forgot the ‘e’ on give? But it is beautiful!
There are a lot of these out there but your DIY tutorial is the best I’ve seen! Can’t wait to do this, thanks for the awesome tutorial!
What do you mean by dollar store vinyl? You mentioned it was sticky and it made me think of clear contact paper. Thanks!!