If you have a Raspberry Pi and LED matrix, and some time on your hands, you can decorate your house with some pixel art.

This simple project by maker Frederick Vandenbosch uses the large 32×32 RGB LED Matrix sold by Adafruit as the “canvas” in a custom built wooden frame.

What looks to be a piece of acrylic or perspex protects the LEDs and gives it that glass look that you would expect in a regular picture frame.

Around the back the Raspberry Pi Zero is connected to a RGB Matrix HAT and a small power supply.

This really is a beginner’s project that anyone can make, but we like the way it is framed (har har) as a device to display pixel art. It’s one of those projects that could easily be resold to the nostalgic crowd as a collector’s item. Create a partner app that allows buyers to load up any retro pixel art they want, and you’re in the money.

It would have to be reworked, however, as the listed parts cost around $75 ( that would be around R989 currently) not including parts such as the power supply, wood or cabling. A suggestion made by Vandenbosch includes ditching the wifi dongle for a Pi Zero W, if you can track one down.

While this project was created late last year, a guide for it only recently appeared on hackster.io where we found it. It’s got all the code and instructions you need, including how to make the wooden border.