Updating a Picture Frame

It is so easy to update a picture frame with some paint, tinted wax and sandpaper.  I know this because I recently did it myself.  Last year I showed you all a frame that I had received from my mother.  It was left over from the 1980’s and looked it.  I added a little blue paint to it, framed some art, and called it a day, but I was never really satisfied with it.  The brass/gold color was just too bold for me and didn’t speak my language.

(Before)

This bad picture of the bad frame makes me cringe on so many levels, but you can clearly see all of the shine and brassiness that got in my crawl.

 

 

While I was working on another project in my craft room recently, I decided to do a little magic on the frame.  First, I sanded off a lot of the brass paint and discovered a nice red under it.  Who knew????  Then I simply rubbed some tinted Briwax on it and let it dry.  This photo might not show it, but it is sooooooooooo much better.

 

Meanwhile, I was creating a vignette in another room and decided to add this painting to it.  The art, by the way, is an original watercolor that I bought at the Woodland Art Fair.  That’s an annual art fair that takes place every August in the park right across from our townhouse.  I’m excited because it’s coming up next week-end.  There will be hundreds of juried artists there selling all kinds of art, jewelry,pottery, etc.  They close off our street to cars, and it’s just a nice big family event.

 

I took a framing class once, and we learned that it’s always nice to use the art’s accent color when selecting a mat color.  So, I pulled out the blue in the pottery for the mat.

 

 One of our plants happens to be in a little blue bucket that is the same shade as the mat so I added it to the vignette.

 

More blue, with a pop of red, came from some books.

 

I didn’t hang the art this time.  It is just sitting on top of an old pine drop leaf table that I have.

 

Although there is still a lot of blue going on in this frame and art, it is now toned down, and I don’t cringe when I look at it.  Do you have any frames around your house that could use some TLC?

 

Take care.