Remember when I wrote about the cheap yard sale painting we picked up for $20 — the one with the chunky frame (and a little dent that made it feel characterful) and the artwork that looked a bit generic and hotel-like?
We liked the size and the frame, but the art itself didn’t speak to us. A bunch of you suggested stenciling letters over it, pointing to inspiring projects you’d seen elsewhere. We loved the idea and decided to try it ourselves.
We debated whether to leave the letters unpainted and cover the rest of the canvas in white, but eventually preferred white letters with the original painting as the background. The hardest part was choosing the message. We settled on a classic: “All You Need Is Love.” It fit for several reasons:
- It’s a nod to one of my favorite bands — my dad and I know almost every word to their albums and enjoy watching their old films together.
- It ties into our blog name in a playful way.
- It’s a simple, uplifting message that works in any room.
- It feels timeless rather than trendy.
Before committing, I mocked it up in Photoshop to visualize the layout. If you don’t have Photoshop, free tools like GIMP will do just fine for placing text over an image.
We decided each letter should be about 5″ tall. That height matched a green stripe in the painting and felt balanced on the canvas. I printed each letter in light grayscale on cardstock to save ink, one letter per page, then cut them out carefully with scissors and an X-Acto knife for interior shapes like the O and D.
After arranging the letter stencils on the painting to find the right spacing, I traced around each one very lightly with a pencil directly on the canvas. That left a clear outline to fill in with white acrylic paint and a small craft brush.
Filling in the pencil outlines took only one coat of white paint. The paint covered evenly and gave a crisp, clean look without hiding the painting’s texture and subtle tones behind it.
The finished piece feels fresh and modern while still preserving the soft, textured background. It transformed a mass-produced, hotel-style print into something personal — you choose the words, size, color, and typeface, and suddenly the artwork belongs to you.
At first I planned to paint the frame white, but the warm wood tone matched our buffet perfectly. John preferred keeping it natural, so we left the frame as-is. I’m really happy with the look.
The cost was minimal: the painting itself was $20 at the yard sale, and we used materials we already had on hand — a bit of printer ink, cardstock, white acrylic paint, and a small brush. If you’re starting from scratch, a small tube of acrylic paint and an inexpensive brush will do the job. Add scissors and a sentence you love, and you’re set.
This was an easy, inexpensive, and satisfying update. If you have a print, canvas, or poster you’re not in love with, this method is a great way to personalize it and give it new life.
What did you do this weekend? Did you find anything at yard sales or try painting over art? We had a rainy weekend and could use a redo—anyone else feel that way?
