One of the projects we had on our list for Emma’s room was make some sort of pretty picture light/night light sort of thing, one that could look pretty during the day too. I had seen this image on pinterest (pinned to the inspiration board for Emma’s room) and it inspired the idea we eventually came up with. (Via Apartment Therapy).

This was a very inexpensive and relatively simple project, here’s how I did it.

– A 24″ x 48″ stretched canvas

– Cream Acrylic Craft Paint, plus colors for the art you will paint on the canvas

– An awl

– A string of LED lights, 50 lights or less for a nightlight

– Masking tape

– Optional: We glued some little round mirror tile pieces here and there to reflect the light and some sparkle during the day.

1. We painted the canvas with 3 coats of the cream paint. Make sure the surface is fairly opaque, otherwise the cord may show through from behind.

2. Draw your pattern on the front with pencil, or just start painting. We did simple geometric flowers in neon colors. Keep in mind the amount of cord between each light on the strand (the lights we used were 1/2″ apart), and that you’ll need 1 hole for every light.

3. Poke a hole for each light in your pattern using an awl or screwdriver.

4. Starting at one side, working on the back of the canvas, begin poking your lights through the holes you made. It helped to tape the cord down as we worked across the canvas.

 5. Plug it in and watch it twinkle! (We have Emma’s on a timer, it comes on automatically every day at about 4:00, goes off around 10.

Its such pleasant light. I can imagine when our Seattle days start getting shorter that it will feel cozy to walk in and see this when she gets home from school.

You can see all of Emma’s room redo and read an interview on how we tackled it over on Design Mom. I will be talking about some of the other projects we did in the coming days, so stay tuned.