Brisbane woman saves hundreds using $7 Bunnings product

When a Brisbane woman fell in love with an artwork, but couldn’t afford the $400-plus price tag, she decided to DIY it.

It’s the trendy artwork you’ve seen all over Instagram and Pinterest – but can cost upwards of $400.

Now one DIY-er has revealed how she was able to turn an old canvas into a piece of trendy art for less than $10 using materials from Bunnings.

Jodi Le Bas had been inspired by a textured white artwork she had seen on the Temple and Webster website that cost over $1000 for the large version and $400 for the small size, so decided to create her own with an old canvas she had planned to throw out.

Brisbane woman Jodi Le Bas decided to make her own version after only finding expensive options online. Picture: Supplied

The Temple and Webster artwork Ms Le Bas was inspired by costs over $1000 for the large version.

“I saw some of the art on Pinterest and loved the organic look of them,” she told news.com.au.

“I started researching stockists of them, I found a few pieces that were hundreds of dollars and up to $1000.”

The Brisbane woman got $7 worth of plaster of Paris and a sample pot of white paint from Bunnings for her project.

She started out by using the plaster to create a textured surface on the canvas.

She shared it on Facebook where some said it looked even better than the more expensive versions. Picture: Supplied

Ms Le Bas used a sample pot of paint, an old canvas and plaster of Paris to create the artwork. Picture: Supplied

“I used a palette knife and a scraper to create the texture,” Ms Le Bas said. “I let it set firmly overnight then painted it a nice crisp white.”

She loved the result of the artwork, which she named “From Scratch”, but admitted the plaster of Paris was “tricky at times to get the water ratio correct”.

Ms Le Bas has since made another textured art piece, called “Petals”, using Gyprock joint compound for plaster walls.

“The 2kg bucket of Gyprock could easily do up to 10 pieces depending on size of canvas and design,” she said.

Ms Le Bas has made a second larger artwork using gyprock. Picture: Supplied

Ms Le Bas said she is happy with both artworks and is even considering making more of them to sell.

She shared photos of her first piece on Bunnings Mums Australia where people said it looked even better than the more expensive versions.

“Yours looks better than the $400 piece,” one person commented.

“Looks amazing! Am planning the same – pleased to see it will be worth the effort,” another wrote.