DIY Hinged canvas: how to conceal wall-mounted items
Concealment wall art hinged canvas DIY
Transforming a canvas art piece into a functional storage solution is a brilliant idea not only for upping your home decor but also for your home security.
This tutorial will guide you through creating a hinged canvas art piece to hide clutter or related items on your wall. Utilizing reversible hinges, a stretched canvas and some screws, you'll craft a versatile home decor accent that perfectly conceals alarm panels, hides spare keys and even sockets or switches.
DIY tutorial to create hinged canvas concealment art
You will need
A stretched canvas - it doesn't need to be a high-quality canvas
Reversible hinges
Pieces of wood to make a wood frame (optional depending on the depth of the item you're concealing)
Screws & screwdriver
Drill
Velcro strips (optional)
Paint and brushes (optional)
Step 1: Choose Your Canvas
Select a square or rectangular canvas with a solid wood frame. Opt for a simple white design or a piece that complements your wall colour by creating a bold accent.
I often pick up this type of canvas from our local craft shop, alternatively places like B&M stores, The Works or Hobbycraft have lots in varying sizes to suit your specific project.
Step 2: Attach the Hinges
Position reversible hinges along the side edges of the back of the frame, ensuring they're at the right height for your intended items. Secure them with screws, making sure to create pilot holes to prevent splitting. Don't make the pilot hole too large in each case as you are only using tiny screws, you probably don't even need to drill the pilot hole and could dent it with the end of a screwdriver just enough to get the screw started and prevent it from slipping.
Take care to use very small screws so they don't go the whole way through the frame and puncture the canvas. If the canvas is too thin, you'll need to add some extra strips of wood to create a deeper frame.
Measure and cut pieces of wood to create a frame outline for the back of the canvas. Use wood glue to secure the frame pieces in place, reinforcing them with corner braces for stability.
Step 3: Customize the Canvas (Optional)
For a fun way to further personalize your hinged canvas art, consider painting or decorating the front of the canvas. One idea is to place spots of coloured paint around the canvas (as shown) which then merge into each other when you run the paintbrush up and down the canvas.
Consider creating a DIY textured canvas (read my tutorial for a step-by-step guide).
Step 4: Create the Storage Area
Attach command hooks to the inside of the canvas to hold keys or other small precious items if you just need a secret hiding place and don't want to drill a screw into the wall.
Alternatively, you can position the canvas on your wall to obscure ugly items like alarm panels from view or to create a secret hiding place for keys (as shown).
Ensure they're placed strategically for easy access.
Use rawl plugs or the appropriate wall fixings to attach the hinges to the wall.
The last step is to open and close the hinged canvas to ensure smooth operation and proper alignment.
Make any necessary adjustments to ensure it is level and looks good. Some people suggest adding velcro strips to the wall and canvas edge as an extra step to prevent it from swinging open, but I've never needed to do this.
Once everything is in place, enjoy your newly created hinged canvas wall art. Whether used to hide clutter or secret keys or just to hide unsightly items like alarm systems, it's a great way to add both functionality and style to your space.
Creating a hinged canvas art piece is a fantastic DIY project that can also provide a functional role for safety reasons for example if you want to hide a spare key.
Top tips for a DIY hinged canvas project
You can pick up the perfect blank canvas for only £1 or £2 in an art or craft shop so this DIY hinged canvas can be created on a tight budget ready for you to unleash your creative potential!
You could easily adapt canvas prints by attaching hinges to the sides.
If the item you're concealing is deeper than the depth of the frame of the canvas, add a wooden frame to the back of the canvas or attach a piece of wood to the wall to fix the canvas hinges. Be sure to build up the whole area behind the canvas if choosing this method to make sure you don't give a partial view behind the frame.
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