Wall Art DIY | Dip Painted Spoons for Your Kitchen

Easy and cheap-as-can-be wall art using thrifted spoons and a fun variety of colorful paint. Perfect for any kitchen!

Here I go again sharing an updated tutorial that I’ve basically already shared before! The weird part is that I really feel like I move beyond liking things in my home pretty quickly. Once I move out of a place, I’m usually happy to leave the decor there behind and start all over! (of course everyone wants all new everything every time they move!) But, weirdly, in this home I’ve revisited a couple of things that I’ve done in previous homes. Although, none of them were in my last house. So maybe that’s why they feel fresh and well-suited again. Because it’s been a year and half since I’ve seen them. I don’t know!

Two weeks ago I shared an updated post for these Instagram Polaroid Blocks. That was a wall decor DIY that I’d had in my home three years ago. Same with these spoons! Actually, I first made these dip-painted spoons in 2011. I’ve used them in three different homes. After we moved out of our last apartment a year and half ago, I decided I had used them enough and that I was over them. I actually threw almost all of them away! (I never throw things away so really I was proud).

And I kind of thought I was over all the colorful details that house had featured. Truth be told, I kind of am. While I’ll always love bright colors, my true affinity lies with neutrals. I am a big fan of Scandinavian decor. Minimal and neutral all the way! And I thought that’s what this home would be like. (my bedroom and Stella’s room kind of are.) But the truth is, I still have lots of colorful furniture that I cannot bring myself to get rid of (i.e. my turquoise couch). Also, I felt like the kitchen just needed colorful cabinets. So color re-entered this home in a pretty big way. And I ain’t mad about it!

Even when I decided to do these spoons again though, I still thought I might go a lot less colorful, maybe even a white to black ombre. But then I looked at the old pictures of my late spoons and I just loved the colors so much. These spoons do vary from those a bit but the fresh paint looks so much nicer and it matches the current kitchen a little better.

These spoons are honestly my favorite wall decor I’ve ever had. Kitchens are SO HARD for me for some reason. But the moment I first hung these five years ago, my kitchen decor woes were over! They’re also my most complimented decor. Everyone loves them! The best part? You can fill a pretty big wall out for less than $10 (assuming you don’t need to buy paint)!

• Variety of spoons (I used 44, found at a thrift store for .25 cents a piece) //
• Paint (see notes below) //
• Tape //
• Command velcro strips //
• Scissors //
• Ribbon, level, tape, pencil and measuring tape for hanging

*Paint note: I prefer household latex paint for this project. It just seems to drip off better and leave a smoother finish. Enamel craft paint works fine too but it is also harder to dip the spoons at varying depths since there isn’t much paint per bottle. Last time I made these spoons, I used some leftover white latex, poured it into several cups and added enamels to it to get different colors and shades. This time I used mostly left over sample size latex paints from various other project.

I got my spoons at a thrift store! Any spoons for well for this and I love the variety I found there!

1.Dip your spoons into your paints at varying angles and depths. Either use cups or just dip right into the paint! Shake them off a bit. You can scrape off most of whats on the back if you want which will make them dry faster. The backs won’t be visible.

2. Use tape and the end of a table to hang  your spoons up to dry. Make sure to leave something for them to drip on, like paper or cardboard!

3. After about a half hour, the paint should be kind of rubbery and you’ll most likely have little drips coming off each spoon. Use your fingers to smooth these off. Just swipe them to the side, pinch them off with your fingers, or if they’re too stiff, bend them behind the spoon.

4. After they’ve all dried, I like to see my layout on the floor first so I can decide what looks best where! Make sure to vary your sizes and colors around.

I thought I just wanted 3 rows this time but after I hung them, decided I needed another row below so I added that later. The steps are the same no matter how many rows you have!

5.  Decide size of display:
Measure longest spoon (mine was 7.75″), add amount you want between each row to that (I did 1″) and times that by how many rows you’ll have (I did 4). So my length was 8.75×4= 35″
Width doesn’t matter so much as how you like them to look, after laying them out on the floor I decided I liked 31″ (I had 11 spoons in each row).
FINAL = 35″ H x 31″ W

6. This is my fave way to hang a grid! Rather than lots of marks and leveling, I just use ribbon or thread:
First decide where you want the center of your display to be on your wall and mark that lightly with a pencil.
Measure out from this in both directions half of the amount of your total width (so mine was 31″/2=15.5″ in both directions).
Use a length of ribbon and a level to mark this width on both sides, taping the ribbon to the wall.
Decide how far down from the ceiling you want your display and mark there. Tape a ribbon across this measurement too (using a level or multiple marks). Measure down from this your length amount (so mine was 35″) and also tape a ribbon here. Now we have our outline.

7. Measure down from the top line the length of your longest spoon (mine was 7.75″) and tape ribbon here. Then the amount you’re leaving between each row (1″ for me) and tape here. Do this however many more times you need to in order to mark each row.

8. I like to buy the largest command strips and just cut them down into tiny pieces. Spoons are light so you don’t need it to hold up much weight. I stick them together in pairs and then cut into tiny squares. Remove backing from one side and place on two places of the spoon. The outer curve of the bowl part and the end of the stick. (I bet theres technical names for these parts…). I actually only did one piece on all the spoons that hung right side up and added the second piece (to the stick) on the upside down ones.

9. First place your outermost and middle spoons on each row. Try to eye were they should go being centered between the ribbon lines on top and bottom.

10. Now I just eyed filling in the space between these spoons on the bottom row and used that as a guide for the rest of the rows.

Bam! I know that looks like a lot of steps but just look at the pictures and it’ll make sense! It really is easy. And when you’re done with the semi-tedious task of hanging all these spoons, you’ve just created a really cheap, huge piece of decor so isn’t it worth it!?

I hope you guys are liking these updated posts! They’re some of my favorite ideas ever so I just really wanted to make them look better on the blog! But I do think I’m done :) All new, original content coming right up!