Gilded Picture Frames

Last week I showed how our living room has evolved over the four years we have lived in our home.  The post made me realize that the shelves on either side of the TV could use some lighter, brighter items to pop off the red wall. An idea was born...

Here are the frames that I started with, as well as some shots of them on the shelves.  Nothing wrong with them, they just needed something to make them stand out a little more.

So, I grabbed my trusty spray paint, a roll of painter's tape, and set out on my mission.  First, I removed the pictures and taped off the back of the frames and the area where the picture sits, and then I painted each with two coats of off-white spray paint.

Once the off-white paint was dry (not tacky to the touch AT ALL), I used the painter's tape to cover the areas that I wanted to remain off-white.  For the smaller frame, I color blocked along the planes of the frame, and on the larger frame, I just taped off diagonal stripes.

Next, I sprayed two coats of metallic gold Rustoleum spray paint onto each frame.  The larger frame was coated beautifully, but the smaller frame looked like this in one corner.

Hmmm. Not sure what happened there.  Maybe I sprayed too much paint in one spot, breaking the all-important 'multiple thin coats are much better than one thick coat' rule of spray painting??  The paint wasn't really cracked, it just bunched up together in one spot, creating a crackled look.  It was kind of cool!  If only it hadn't happened in just one spot...

So, I went back outside and sprayed 'too much' in a few other spots on the frame.  The same thing happened!  Now it looked like the crackle finish was intentional, and gave the frame some interest.  Crisis averted.

I carefully pulled the painter's tape from the frames as soon as I finished spraying the gold paint, because I was afraid that it would remove the gold paint if I waited until it dried.  Finally, I sprayed both frames with a clear acrylic spray to protect the paint job and make them more chip-resistant.



Fabulous. Easy.  And free, since I already had all of the supplies I needed.  My favorite kind of project.  Stay tuned, because I have some BIG plans for the rest of that gold spray paint (and the other six cans occupying the shelf in our garage). 


What items in your home have you given new life?  Do tell!

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Our Fifth House
Keeping it Simple
Give Me the Goods Monday
Overflowing With Creativity