Ausssie Kmart shopper's $13 artwork hack goes viral

Carrie Harris, 33, of Perth, posted this snap of her $19 koala painting from Kmart online after she transformed it by adding $12 eucalyptus decals. Photo / Kmart Hacks & Decor / Facebook

An Aussie woman has been shocked by the response to a simple 15-minute makeover of a discount Kmart buy.

Carrie Harris, 32, of Perth, recently purchased a "bargain" Kmart painting of a Koala for $20, but not even she was prepared for the attention it was going to receive. She even had to turn comments off after her phone wouldn't stop beeping from notifications.

After sharing a photo online of how she transformed the artwork, it garnered one thousand likes in less than 10 minutes.

Harris said that while she loved the canvas, "something was missing" and wanted to fill the empty space above the Koala's head with eucalyptus decals.

"I'd seen the decals used on walls in babies rooms and play rooms, and thought I they would be the perfect addition," Harris told news.com.au.

"It was simple and effective."

To create the look, the mother-of-two cut roughly around the leaves to make it easy to apply the decals to the canvas.

She then used a ruler to get rid of possible bubbling.

The original version of the painting. Photo / Kmart Hacks & Decor / Instagram

"It took about 15 minutes after I put the kids to bed," she said about the "hack" which has since inspired other mums to do the same.

"I've used decals in my sons room on the wall, but never on a canvas before. I love creating something personal.

"The decal hack isn't expensive either but gives it an extra something."

She purchased the custom stickers for $12 with free postage from eBay.

"I bought from a local seller in Melbourne as they had them in stock and I didn't want to wait too long for postage," she explained.

The Perth mum then shared her savvy creation to the popular Facebook group Kmart Hacks & Decor which has since been liked nearly 10,000 times.

Harris was forced to turn comments off after her phone wouldn't stop beeping from notifications.

"Honestly the immediate reaction from the post shocked me," she told news.com.au

"I thought maybe one thousand likes, over time, if I was lucky. That happened in less than 10 minutes.

"My phone was going crazy."

Harris said the reaction was unexpected but "so lovely at the same time".

"It's great that people can be so positive. Especially in these times."

Her post has since garnered more than 8,000 likes on Facebook with her idea inspiring others to do the same. Photo / Kmart Hacks & Decor / Facebook

"I think our affinity with our natives has grown given we've lost so many due to the bushfires.

"I'm so humbled that there was so much interest in the post that others messaged me directly saying they wanted to do the same."

Since sharing her idea last week, Harris has been tagged in several posts from fellow mums inspired by her creativity with one calling it "beautiful".

"So simple but what a big change! Love it!!" said another.

"Carrie Harris thank you so much for your clever idea for the koala print," one woman wrote online. "My leaves arrived this morning and now I have a koala with leaves too. I love it."

Another woman wrote: "Some inspiration from Carrie Harris' previous post with the koala print. Hope you don't mind me sharing my post and experimented with the $2 contact and think this looks pretty cool. Thankyou for the inspiration."

Harris said the koala and the kookaburra prints have been popular on a lot of hack pages as they aren't an expensive decorative addition.