Picture frame redo

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything crafty, and since I’ve been so focused on getting my bedroom put together, I haven’t had a whole lot of time for any crafts not geared toward my bedroom.  I kind of wanted to save this one to share with you in June, but I’m just too excited about it.

I won’t go into too many details right now about my bedroom re-do, but I will tell you that a main focal point involves four picture frames.  Because I’m on a budget, I didn’t want to shell out a lot of money for these.  I set out to Gordmans; if you’re looking for some great, affordable décor, you should check it out.

I was looking for something a little different.  Everything in my room is so dark, and I decided it was time to get something to lighten up the walls and break up the drabness.  No more black picture frames, no more dark wood.  When I got there, I couldn’t find exactly what I wanted for less than $15.  Like I mentioned before, I needed four of these suckers, and like hell was I going to pay $60.  I kept looking and found 4 frames for $5 each; the only problem was the color—an easy fix.

I brought them home and got to work.  All I needed was some white paint and an old sock.

I turned the sock inside-out and dipped it in the white paint.  Then I smeared the excess paint off of the sock so it was barely wet.  I streaked it across the frame in the direction wood grain would go. 

This was after one coat; not too bad.

I really liked the way this looked, but when I held it up to my walls, it sort of blended in.  I did a couple more coats of white, but it was a little to gray.  I rummaged downstairs in the land of leftover paint (I always save my left over paint for such occasions) and found a really great cream color.  A little bit of a yellow tone was just what these frames needed.

I did one coat of cream, and was finally satisfied.

I’m pretty happy with the results—I actually like these better than the $15 frames I was eyeing.  A year ago, if I couldn’t find exactly what I wanted, I probably would’ve held off on buying and gone online or shelled out a lot of money… But when you’re on a budget, if you can’t find what you want, sometimes you have to settle for close enough and then put a little work into it.