Turn An Old Egg Carton Into Retro Hanging Wall Décor With A DIY

At the turn of the 20th century, artists looked to geometric forms to convey the effects of industrialization in a way that representational art couldn't. Large art canvases of the era, created by the artisans of the Bauhaus and fine artists like Piet Mondrian, featured squares, circles, and rectangles. The influence of these artists and art style continues today. While you may not have it in your budget to buy a Mondrian, it's still possible for you to own retro geometric art: You just need to follow the example of YouTuber Deep's Craft and make it yourself from egg crates and other raw materials. And given that these soon-to-be-upcycled items are themselves the product of industrialization, you could even argue that your retro wall décor is just continuing a conversation started by artists over a hundred years ago.

If you'd like to create a sizable retro art piece, your best bet is to recycle a paper egg crate that was made to hold two dozen eggs. However, you can experiment with smaller egg carton sizes, too. The paper material is the most important part because its texture brings additional visual interest to this piece. You'll create the geometric shapes, thanks to the design of the egg tray itself and a supply of acrylic paints and paintbrushes. Pompoms, meanwhile, made from yarn and beads will augment the geometric forms. Finally, be sure to pull out some scissors and a large needle before you close the lid on your artist's pochade box.

This retro egg-carton DIY requires some prep before you begin painting. First, inspect the egg crate for damage, and remove any broken shells from it. As well, plan the color scheme at this time. More specifically, decide whether you want a bold piece with brilliant primary colors, or a more subdued one made up of hues like rust, beige, and brown. Plain black and white would be another option. Make this decision based on the décor scheme in the room where you'll hang the piece.

When you finally start painting, you'll fill in the recessed portions of the carton and the little "mountains" in between them. Possible patterns include diagonal lines, blocks of four, or combos of squares and triangles. Once your portions are painted, snip off the tops of the "mountain peaks" to introduce more textures and shapes. And if you're good at free-hand painting, try painting a few circles or ovals directly onto the egg carton to add more visual variety.

Then, make pompoms by wrapping a bunch of yarn around your hand and tying it off on one side; remove the bundle from your hand. Then wrap a string around the bundle near where you tied it off, and cut the opposite ends to create the loose strings of the tassels. Attach the tassels to a string of beads. Glue those to the bottom side of the piece. Finally, put dabs of glue into the crevices and fill those up with beads before you hang it up.

Geometric shapes like squares invite duplication due to how easy they are to work with and to create. For this DIY, that might mean creating a second piece to hang next to the original. Or, you could make two smaller pieces of retro art from an egg box that only holds four or six eggs. Or, instead of making the big piece, create a gallery wall of egg-carton art from four smaller ones.

That said, if you like the shape and size of the original, you've still got options for augmentation, even if you don't create smaller art pieces to go with the big one. For example, you could get creative with decoupage by gluing an old map onto the egg crate. (Use a reproduction if you can't bear the thought of ruining a vintage map.) Maps from the '60s or '70s would add authenticity to the retro art because they'd still have countries like East and West Germany and Rhodesia. Even with the map, you could still use paint on the DIY. Just go with light glazes of acrylic paint. This technique ensures that the information on the map is still visible, while allowing you to keep geometric shapes in the mix.

Or instead of changing the egg carton itself, try embellishing the pompoms with add-ons like old vintage keys or old locks to introduce more retro elements. Just make sure these extras aren't too heavy, or they might tear the bottom of the art piece after they're glued onto the egg carton, due to their weight.