I bought three large Virserum frames from Ikea (27 ½ x 39 ¼ “) for a giant blank wall I had in our office area. Of course, I didn’t know what I was going to put in them. I just knew I was at Ikea for the first time in ages and I should buy them!

They hung on the wall with nothing in them for over a month, until finally I had a DIY idea. I was inspired by this color palette to make my own triangle art. Basically, I decided to take fabric I already had and paint it with pretty colors. I chose fabric because I liked the idea of having texture, but of course you could use paper or whatever creative surface you can think of.

(I had to leave the glass off the frames for photos because the glare from the windows was so strong.)

Here’s how to do it:

Tools needed for DIY triangle tape art

• fabric
• frame
• masking or painter’s tape
• scissors
• pencil
• paintbrush
• acrylic paint
• iron

 Directions

1. Take apart your frame and lay it (or the mat) on the fabric. Trace it lightly with a pencil.
2. Cut out your traced box, leaving a couple inches on the outside so you can tape it to the frame later.
3. You can either buy skinny painter’s tape (like this) or cut regular tape in half. (I couldn’t find the skinny tape at my Home Depot, so I cut masking tape I already had in half.)
   
   
4. Tape off a pattern with the tape. I taped the diagonal lines first to give me a guide where the center should be — shown in dark blue, above.
5. Paint with acrylic paint. I diluted mine with a little water because fabric soaks up a lot of paint and I like the washed look it gives.
6. Remove the tape.
7. Once the fabric is completely dry, iron the reverse side of the paint. Getting part of the fabric wet makes it morph a bit. Ironing it will smooth it out so it will lay nicely in the frame.
8. Tape it to your mat or frame.

Here are some other designs I considered. (Yes, I’m a dork and planned it all out on the computer first.)