How to: chevron artwork

Monday, I posted my 97% finished bedroom, including some chevron artwork above my headboard. It filled the empty space, added another layer of subtle pattern and allowed me to distribute some more yellow around the rest of the room. Turns out the project wasn't exactly as easy as I thought it would be but pretty simple nonetheless. Put simply, the more perfectionist you are about it, the longer it will take to complete. Ugh.

Anyway, here's how I did it.

Materials
Two 18"x24" canvas boards
Three bottles of acrylic craft paint in your choice of colors
Level
Pencil
A good, sturdy eraser

NOTE: I ended up using a 2-pack of canvas boards purchased at Michaels. If you go that route, make sure to print off the 40% off coupon from their site, making the total project cost $11.

Step One: measure and grid
Dust off your math skills and bear with me because this part's a little hard to explain. Stand up your canvases so they 24" tall, 18" wide. Then, using your pencil and level, make horizontal lines that are 4" apart. You should have 5 lines, 6 spaces. Then, flip the canvases on their sides so that they are 18" tall, 24" wide and make horizontal lines that are 3" apart. You should have 5 lines, 6 spaces, creating a grid-like pattern on each of the canvases.

Make sense?

For those that want thinner or taller chevrons, you'll need to either increase or decrease the number of lines depending on the desired outcomes (read: do more math).

Step Two: draw the diagonals
Now that you've created a grid, you're ready to build your chevrons. Starting at the top left corner, make a diagonal line across the first rectangle. Move to the next rectangle and, starting where the first horizontal line left off, draw a second diagonal line going the opposite direction in a zigzag fashion. Continue doing this across the entire canvas, move to the next row of rectangles and repeat.

Step Three: start painting

To avoid confusion, start painting with one of your colors, marking which ones to paint ahead of time. Apply 2-3 coats and let dry. Then, move onto your next color, leaving one stripe unfinished for your final color.