Skip to Content

The How To Mom is an affiliate for companies including Amazon Associates and earns a commission on qualifying purchases.

How to Make DIY Wall Art – Easy Canvas Paintings for Kids Rooms

Kylie

Make your own easy canvas painting to match any decor or bedding. This DIY wall art project is easier than it looks!

I suppose it all started with my first born.

haha I guess that’s a silly statement, all things kid-related start with your first child.

But making canvas wall art to match my babies crib bedding all started with my first. My in-laws gifted us a brand new crib, and we couldn’t really afford the whole Pottery Barn crib bedding set. Soooo…

I picked out fabric and with many calls to my mom to ask sewing questions, I made my own! It was teal and hot pink, with black and white accents and a tiny bit of green. So 2007, lol.

The fabric I chose had flowers that looked “painted” which gave me the idea to actually paint canvases with the same flowers. And they turned out pretty great!

With my other two babies, I did the same thing. Lovingly made their crib bedding and painted matching canvas art. So fun!

Paige bedding and matching canvas


Pre-blogging days, for sure. haha

It’s probably obvious, but just to be clear, I am NOT an artist. I am a crafter. 😉 So I figure stuff out and improvise, and probably don’t do things the “right” way. But hey, whatever works right?!

Painting colorful custom wall art for my kids has definitely brought me joy! I’d love to share how you can recreate it for your own kids rooms! Towards the end, I also share some more easy canvas painting ideas for beginners. Lets have some fun!

This post contains affiliate links. I may receive a commission from qualifying purchases. Thanks!

DIY Wall Art Ideas for Nurseries and Kids Bedrooms

This idea works well for kids rooms because their bedding is usually easy to mimic. Sailboats, flowers, animals, cartoon characters, etc.

My youngest had zoo animal bedding in funky colors and blocky shapes. SO FUN. I might have picked that fabric specifically because I knew how fun and easy it would be to paint canvases for.

baby crib with matching art

That cute baby is now 5 yrs old and has a big boy bed. AND he’s due for some new art pieces on his walls!

Luckily he has this truck bedding from Target and the trucks are fairly simple shapes and were easy to paint.

How to paint canvases for kids rooms

I use inexpensive blank canvases and acrylic paints. If you only need a few colors, you can just look for those colors already mixed, or you could buy a set of acrylic paints (student grade is fine) and mix to get the exact shade. You can also use craft acrylic paint as well, but in my experience, the colors don’t mix as easily so you’ll need to find a shade that’s a pretty close match.

I have played around with oil painting, but definitely prefer acrylics, especially for beginners. Oils take foreverrrr to dry, and are a bit more expensive and require chemicals to clean the brushes afterward.

–Good Beginner Acrylic Set (this is the set that I started with)
Paint brushes
Blank Canvas (bulk, in case you need extras for practice)

I have some fancy paint brushes, and also have the cheap bulk pack of paintbrushes and they’re both fine.

Also, I have created a comprehensive post about easy canvas painting tips and ideas, if you want more in depth information about getting started with acrylics, its a great reference.

Step by Step Instructions for Easy Acrylic Painting

Decide which image you want to paint. Are you going to leave a white background, or paint it a different solid color?

sketch an image on canvas

1. With a pencil, lightly sketch out the design. Pencils will erase on canvas, but they also can smudge, so the trick is to sketch lightly and be careful with smudging with your hand.

2. Mix your paints to get the right colors that will match the bedding. And take a deep breath and start painting on the canvas!

painting of a teal car

Acrylic paints dry pretty quickly, so if you need to fix any mistakes or clean up any lines, I’d wait until its dry and then paint over the mistake.

How to Hang your DIY Canvas Painting

These canvas panels are super lightweight and can be easily hung with velcro Command strips or just a nail or tack.

For a large canvas, you may need to use two nails/tacks or command strips. And a level can help you hang it straight.

If you’re looking for another easy and creative canvas wall art project, check out my post about turning apretty calendar into gallery wall.

More Easy Canvas Painting Ideas

I love to copy the characters or designs from my kids bedding, but its definitely not the only easy acrylic painting idea out there. You could also use the colors from their bedding and create an abstract piece. Not all of us have serious art skills, but anyone can do abstract art!

  • Pick a shape and repeat it all over the canvas in different colors and sizes and other variations.
  • Try a super minimal art piece by leaving the canvas a solid color and painting a line through it, or painting one shape for impact.
  • Sunsets are always fun to paint
  • Blending colors into each other is one of my favorite ways to play with my acrylics. Start with one color on top and blend into a different color on the bottom.
  • Tap into your inner Picasso with a weird abstract face or other subject.
  • Play with painters tape and make a “relief” by adhering tape to canvas and then painting over it. Once its dry, you can remove the tape to see the design. Fun to do with initials!
how to make matching art on canvas

Make Your Own Beautiful Living Succulent Wreath Centerpiece! Complete video course by Jeannine Romero now available through Skillshare.