UGLY Utility Boxes No More!

Cindy Leah Gordon
by Cindy Leah Gordon
4 Materials
$9
4 Hours
Easy
The utility boxes on my house are located on the front, right side. Visible as you're walking or driving down the street. Just an UGLY sight. Since there wasn't a practical way to hide them, I decided to use them as a surface for art instead.
Before: UGLY!
I sketched out a simple design. I like birds and knew that I wanted to make that the anchor for the design. I'm artistic, but felt I needed to use a stencil or trace the birds. I used what I had already. A pair of metal bird wall art and a metal dragonfly that I use on my front door. But other than that, I freehand painted as I went along.
Used these metal bird wall art as "stencils".
I traced the birds and dragonfly onto the boxes.
Used this metal dragonfly as a filler stencil
I gathered all of my exterior acrylic paints. I used the colors that I have on hand. I blended, lightened and darkened to make the colors I have work for my project.
Notice they are the outdoor type of acrylics.
I started by painting the birds brown and the dragonflies purple'ish....solid. It took a couple coats of paint. I realized that leaves would be a nice filler. I'd originally thought of freehand painting branches. I cut out a simple leaf stencil out of a piece of scrap cardboard. (I don't have a picture of it, but easy) As the first coat of paint was drying, I randomly traced on the leaves. Then just started layering the colors. I prefer to work with one color at a time. A lot of dots. Big ones, then when they dried, I added smaller on top.
I decided that I wanted more movement, so I added honey bees, then blue dotted swirls.
Ta da! I can't make the boxes go away, but at least they look better. I might go back and add more color dots inside the leaves.
Note: It was a free project for me since I used what I have on hand. I worked on it on and off for about a week. Mainly because it would come up a storm.
After!
Suggested materials:
  • Metal bird wall art   (A yard sale years ago.)
  • Dragonfly   (Ebay)
  • Outdoor type acrylic paints   (Michael's and Walmart 0)
See all materials
Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?
  2 questions
  • Denise Denise on Apr 16, 2018

    Thank you for such a great idea!! I love what u did and with your permission...

    Can I mimic your drawings on mine please???

  • Great job! Have you considered painting the cables? Hubby works in electrical and it's safe and the cables belong to the homeowner. Just an idea...

Comments
Join the conversation
2 of 22 comments
Next