I recently revealed to you my new dining room! What a difference a change of color can make! I still walk by the room and am surprised at how much brighter it is.
If you are a follower of mine, you know that I love to renovate and re-decorate but I do not like to spend a lot of money! So my dining room renovation was no exception! The only major purchase I made in my dining room was the fabric for the curtains {which I made using my existing rods} which still cost WAY less than catalog or department store window treatments. I also bought the mirror, painting and floral arrangements from Kirklands, but they were all on sale and I used a coupon for all of them! So they were a steal! As was most of the other decor in the room. Of course there was granny’s dresser that I refinished after my SIL gave it to me for FREE! As badly as I wanted a new dining table, it wasn’t gonna happen, so I recovered my chairs and painted my table. And, of course, my “new” china handed down to me by my grandma. So what else did I create on a budget? Check out these prints.
I bought the pair from the Humane Society Thrift Store for $6! So was I about to pay big bucks to have them matted and framed?
HECK NO! I had my boys 6-month photos hung in these frames in the “old” dining room. Since I went from gold to silver, the frames were useless, right? NO!
I took the photos and matte out and took those babies outside . . .
and sprayed them with my favorite Krylon color
, brushed nickel.
, brushed nickel. But, they didn’t quite look right. Too “painted” looking.
So I brought out my walnut distressing ink
and went to town.
and went to town. It did a number on my fingers, but in the end. . . .
It looked perfectly antiqued!
I still needed the matte in the frame {to make it look professional, of course}. so I removed the gold layer that was just stuck with glue.
I took my prints,
and put them in the frames with the ivory mattes.
There you have it! Six dollar, matted, framed prints. That’s just $3 each! Am I doing a little happy dance? YES, I AM!
You don’t have to spend a lot of money to renovate a room. Spend the money where it is necessary, then look around to see what can be recycled or re-invented into something else!
I need to do this project in so many ways. I have old frames in stacks in my garage. Thank you for the inspiration
I love spray painting old frame to make them match new decor…so much cheaper than buying new ones!
love how they came out once you did the distressing on there. so pretty!
nice!
Your dining room is just beautiful-and I love your step by step directions on how to diy! Those frames are amazing….
They look great!
Beautiful job with the frames! I love upcycling things!
Beautiful! I love the idea of the distressing ink added to the frames! I just re-did the frame around the medicine cabinet and it does look too painted. Thank you so much for the idea!
Love this!
Yep! Thank goodness for spray paint! They look fantastic!
Jen, your framed prints came out beautifully. I love the way you antiqued the frames with the distress ink!
Lovely thrifty revamp! Good to know others do the happy dance about their decor triumphs.
Love it and love your new dining room! SO pretty
I would be really honored if you were to link up next week at my Pajama Party!
Http://www.lifeinmypjs.com
-Ela
Frames…I collect them…whenever I find them cheap I snatch them up…add paint and voila!
The distressing really made these work! Great job, Jen! and love, love, love the new color in your dining room!
Nice job on the frames and I just love your dining room curtains, the fabric is gorgeous! Well done, it's a beautiful space.