Southwest-Inspired Wall Art

We may be living in a tiny home on wheels, but that doesn’t keep me from working on projects or changing up the decor every so often. Today I’m sharing how easy it is to make Southwest-inspired wall art, the perfect way to add rustic decor to your home or RV.

About a month ago I removed the faux stone wallpaper from our RV bedroom because while it looked okay, I wasn’t in love with it.

Luckily it took less than a minute to remove and didn’t leave any residue behind. If you’re indecisive and looking for a temporary way to spruce up your walls, that won’t cause damage or be a pain to take down, removable wallpaper is definitely the way to go!

Once the wallpaper was off I gave the wall a fresh coat of paint and started thinking about switching out the small Tahoe print with something different.

Eric and I are still hanging around North Georgia so last weekend we made a two-hour trip to visit my family. While there I also spent some time painting our massive RV exterior rug (which I’ll share later) and creating some simple Southwest-inspired wall art. My mom and sister hung out with me while we made messes and painted together. It was my kind of fun.

How to Make Southwest-Inspired Wall Art

If you’ve been following our blog for a while then you know I have somewhat of an obsession with southwestern designs. In fact, I’ve created and used Southwest-inspired designs on rugs, throw blankets, pillows, and more pillows. This time I decided to create a simple pattern and add it to canvas.

• 12 x 12 Canvas
• Painter’s Tape
• Measuring Tape (I used a fabric one)
• Speed Square
• Scissors
• Pen
• Paint
• Paint Roller
• Small Detail Angled Craft Paintbrush
• Wood for Frame – we used 1 x 2 furring strips
• Brad Nailer

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I didn’t have my Silhouette Cameo or Speed Square with me so I decided to create my design using tape and a piece of wood that had one side cut to 45 degrees.

This would be even easier if you were to use a stencil, create your design using a cutting machine such as the Silhouette, or print and cut your design so you can trace around, and then paint within the lines.

Otherwise, the way I did it will certainly get the job done too and I only used materials I had on hand so I didn’t have to buy anything extra.

The first thing I did was roll a few coats of paint onto my 12 x 12 canvas, letting it dry in between. The paint color I used is called “Kindling” from BEHR, which is one of the paint colors I was also using on our exterior rug.

While the paint was drying on my canvas I started cutting the tape for my design. Click here if you prefer the printable/SVG file of the design.

I taped the design onto a whiteboard for the time being since my canvas was wet, and then later transferred it to my dry canvas. I think that made the tape lose some of its stickiness but it still worked out okay.

Here’s the tape centered on my canvas.

You’ll want to slightly overlap each layer of tape and then also press down firmly to make sure it’s stuck to the canvas, especially in the corners.

Afterwards I rolled over the canvas with white paint. I think I did 3 coats, letting it dry in-between. To help prevent the paint from bleeding through the tape I started my roller in the center of the canvas and rolled the paint on the left side. I then put the roller back in the center and rolled the right side of the canvas. This way the roller was going over the tape and away from the edge, rather than towards the edge…if that makes sense.

I removed the tape before the canvas was completely dry and while the tape did a decent job, the edges weren’t super crisp. I think this could have been because the tape lost some of it’s stickiness when I taped it to the white board, and because I was impatient and probably could have let the paint dry on the canvas longer. It was dry, but probably a bit tacky still. So I just cleaned up the edges with a small, angled detail brush.

It’s not perfect, but it’s not too shabby either.

Afterwards we used our nail gun to attach furring strips. These were extras we had from an older project so they were already stained, dry and cut to the dimensions we needed.

Here’s the canvas hanging up in our RV bedroom.

I love this space so much more without the added wallpaper. Plus the white paint helps brightens up the nook, which is nice since I use the wall-mounted desk for my computer on most days.

We haven’t posted about it, but you may notice we added extra wood to the sides of the desk. We did this back in December so it would fit my computer screen more comfortably. We originally thought Eric would use this desk for his laptop, but when we’re not using the hidden table in the living room, Eric will just work from the sofa and I’ll come work in the bedroom.

It just goes to show that you don’t always know how you’ll use a space until you’re actually living in it.

I spend a lot of time in this little corner and this rustic, Southwest-inspired wall art makes me enjoy it even more. It doesn’t hurt that it’s super lightweight which is always a plus when it comes to adding decor to a tiny home on wheels.