D.I.Y.

How to Make a Mounted Canvas on the Cheap

March 30, 2022

On my latest Instagram post, I shared my home office which – thank goodness – I’m still highly obsessed with. In that post, I mentioned how it’s one of maybe two rooms in my home that are fully complete. It’s so true. In almost every room I can think of several things I want to do, need to buy, or need to create to make it my own. Take our living room, for example. I want to widen the curtain rod I made, get some new end tables, make an arched cabinet, and update the art next to the fireplace as pictured below. The art is something McGregor and I both agree that we want to spend some money on, but we can’t agree on what to put there. So, I wanted to make something for super cheap. This would explain why I’m teaching you how to make a mounted canvas for really cheap. How cheap am I talking? SO cheap. This mounted canvas cost me $26.00 to make!!! Granted I had leftover lumber, but you can definitely make a mounted canvas for less than you can purchase one.

Gathering My Thoughts on Making a Mounted Canvas

I knew the art piece I wanted to make with this mounted canvas – thanks to The Avant-Garde on Instagram. So I knew the canvas itself didn’t need to be amazing. I knew what size I had to make the canvas – also thanks to The Avant-Garde. As a side note, Julie says that to determine the correct size art for your wall, you need to measure the wall and then multiply the width and length by 0.60 and 0.75 – you then have the minimum and maximum widths that your art should be. Luckily this wall resulted in some odd dimensions – a canvas size I couldn’t find easily enough in a store so I decided I could make it instead. I had scrap material and I definitely have the tools (even if you don’t, I think you could get away with the minimum tools-wise), I just needed to track down the canvas. Thank goodness Amazon is a thing – I found the perfect canvas for $26!

I want to reiterate that I didn’t paint nor was I planning on painting mine – so I found the cheapest, largest canvas-look-a-like I could find.

What You Need to Make a Mounted Canvas

I’ve included a shop list above – you don’t need everything and can make this work with a little patience and very few tools.

Lumber that’s the same thickness – enough for the size of your frame
Screws – long enough that’ll fit through the width of your board and into the next board (or pocket hole jig and pocket hole screws if you have them)
Saw (I used a mitre saw, a hand saw with a mitre box would work fine)
Wood glue
Clamps (not necessary but helpful)
Canvass – here’s what I used, but as a reminder, it’s quite thin!

How to Make a Mounted Canvas

Cut your lumber to the size of frame you want. Two pieces will be the exact same size, and the other two will be the exact same size. I did 90-degree cuts. Don’t forget to subtract the width of the wood from either the length or width (when you assemble the frame, it’ll either be two widths wider or longer than what you measured it – as pictured above).
If you’re using a pocket hole, drill your pocket holes, add wood glue where the wood joins the next piece, and then assemble the frame. You can clamp your pieces if you think it’ll help you keep them in place.
If you’re not using a pocket hole, lay your frame down and pre-drill your holes where your screws will go in. Once your holes are good to go, add wood glue, and screw in the screws. You can clamp your pieces if you think it’ll help you keep them in place.
Once your canvass frame is assembled, take your canvass and lay it out flat. Place your finished frame over top of it.
Measure enough of the canvas fabric to go along the front and wrap over the back of the wood frame. Cut the fabric to this size.
Using your staple gun, staple your canvas fabric onto the frame. Try to make sure it’s as straight and tight as you can get it to start. Once you have the first side done, you can pull the canvas tight and staple the rest. You don’t want any creases or bunching.
Flip it over and you’re done!!! Congratulations on making your own mounted canvas.