Spray Painted Picture Frames & Photos as Wall Art

Framing photos can be a really inexpensive form of wall art.  Today, I want to talk about how I used photographs as décor in our nursery.

I’ll start with the three photos that I used above the changing station.  The photos were from our newborn photo session with Kingfish Photography when the boys were two weeks old.  I actually had the photos taken purposefully to fill these three frames.  I wanted a picture of both babies in the middle frame and their individual pictures on the left and right frames.  We received a CD from our photo session with permission to print the pictures.  I printed three 8x10 photos from the Wal-Mart one hour photo lab for $2.99 each.

The frames were from Ikea for only $2.99 a frame!  They are a light-weight frame with plastic instead of glass.  When I purchased them they were red.  I took the plastic out, and spray painted the frames white.  Then I turned the paper insert backwards, so the white part of the paper was facing out. Using double sided tape, I then centered the 8x10 photos on the white paper before putting the frames back together and hanging them on the wall.

The pictures on the shelves were from our maternity sessions with Kingfish Photography.  We took pictures announcing we were having twins at 12 weeks, pictures announcing their genders at 16 weeks, and pictures of my big baby bump at 30 weeks.  I printed a few of my favorite pictures from those sessions from the Wal-Mart photo lab for $.15 a print.

The frames were from the Dollar Tree.  Just like the Ikea frames, I spray painted the small Dollar Tree frames white.  They were black when I purchased them.  I found the shelves from Ikea for $10 each.  I love having pictures displayed underneath the “for this child I prayed” wall decal purchased from Amazon.

All of the frames, the two shelves and all of the printed photos cost less than $50.  I love using these photographs as art.  They are a beautiful reminder off how blessed we really are.

$2 Yard Sale Chairs Get a $2 Paint Job

Monday, I posted “Goodwill Desk Gets a Green Makeover”, and yesterday I posted “Upcycled DeskOrganizers.”  Today, I want to talk about the chair that I found to go with the green desk.

I scored two of these chairs at a garage sale last year for $2 a piece.

I didn’t paint the chair I have at the desk.  I thought the green desk was enough color in this particular space.

I did, however, paint the other chair.  Using a $2 can of red spray paint, this chair got a pop of color!

When using spray paint, it is important to use thin even strokes.  If you try to apply too much paint in one place you will end up with drip marks, and that’s never a good thing.  Also, always spray paint in a well ventilated area.  I usually spray paint outdoors.

I think the chair looks great with the other red accents I have in the kitchen! It displays my cookbooks and provides additional seating when we have a lot of company.  That’s $2 well spent if you ask me;)

Going Yellow - When a Lamp Shade Meets a Napkin

 

 

I’m continuing my “Going Yellow” series today with a project I’ve entitled, “When a Lamp Shade Meets a Napkin.”

 

 

Yesterday I shared how I updated my DIY Wall Décor with some new yellow fabric to create DIY Wall Art Redo. Today I want to share how I updated this lamp with a new plain white shade and a festive napkin.

 

The original lamp shade was made with scrapbook paper.  You can go here for that tutorial.  For this update, I kept the Goodwill lamp that I spray painted black, but I got rid of the old lamp shade and made a new one. 

To start I bought a simple $8 lamp shade from Target and $3 napkin from World Market. 

I then tore the napkin in half and hot glued it around the shade. By tearing the napkin in half, I had enough fabric to cover the width of the lamp. The two pieces glued seamlessly together on the sides of the shade, because the napkins already had perfect hems.

I then glued the bottom hem of the napkin to the bottom of the shade.

Carefully making pleats, I glued the torn side of the napkin to the inside top of the shade.  To cover the torn part of the napkin,  I glued some pretty ribbon on the inside of the lamp.

 

I love how the napkin not only had some of the yellow I was looking for, but it also had some other bright colors in it as well. It gave me the right amount of pop I wanted for the space.

 

I'd say this lamp redo was a big success....and an inexpensive one at that.

 

Stay tuned for more yellow projects this week:)

 

 

Oil Rubbed Bronze Glass Door Knobs for Less

I don’t know about you, but I love the look of oil rubbed bronze glass door knobs! They add so much character to a space, and in my opinion, they look a lot better than the builder-grade brass door knobs that most houses come with. 

When it came to our master suite, I knew I wanted glass door knobs, but glass door knobs are EXPENSIVE!  I couldn’t find any oil rubbed bronze glass door knobs online for less than $25, and I needed six sets of door knobs!  One for the master bathroom off of the bedroom, one for the door that leads to the separate toilet area, one for the master closet off of the bathroom, one for the linen closet just off of the master bedroom, and two for the French doors as you enter the master bedroom.  One of those French doors has a dummy door knob, so I actually needed five door knobs and one dummy door knob.  Yep, this was going to be expensive unless I came up with a plan. 

Well, I did come up with a plan.  While shopping around for glass door knobs, I noticed that the brass glass door knobs were a fraction of the price of the oil rubbed bronze ones.  I also remembered my ORB door knob project that I did a few months ago.  Are you putting two and two together yet?  If you keep up with my blog, you know several months ago, I redid our builder-grade brass door knobs by spray painting them oil rubbed bronze.  It was a very successful project!  You can find that post here.  Basically, my plan was to buy brass glass door knobs and spray paint them ORB. 

It sounded like a fabulous and simple plan in my head.  I wish I could say that this project was a cinch, but there were a lot of unexpected problems that I came across as I worked on this project.  Live and learn I guess.  Here’s how I managed to pull this project off……

I bought five of these  glass door knobs on Amazon for $8 each.....

.....one of these glass door knobs for $5 to replace the dummy door knob on one of our French doors...

…..and one $8can of ORB spray paint from Lowe’s. 

Quick Side Note:  By switching out the builder-grade door knobs to these glass door knobs I forfeited having locks on the new door knobs.  It’s hard to find locks on any glass door knob, and the cost is much greater for glass knobs with locks. 

I set out all of the brass pieces of the door knobs that needed to be painted on a large piece of cardboard.

I spray painted the caps of the door knobs.

Then I taped the glass knobs with painters tape…..

…..and painted the brass part of the knob.

When the paint dried, I took off the tape and it looked like this. 

FYI:  Some people prefer to use a spray primer before they apply the ORB spray paint. I didn’t use any primer, and our door knobs that we painted several months ago are holding up well. My husband and I live alone though. If you have kids and your house gets more wear and tear, you may want to try the primer before applying the ORB.

The door knobs that I bought off of Amazon came with these…..

…..but they were sized a little bit different than the ones from my original brass door knobs.  I painted my original ones ORB and used them instead of the new ones, since the original ones already fit perfectly into the door frame.

Now for the first real problems that I ran into with this door knob project.  My new knobs came with these.  I discovered that in order to make them work in my door, my husband needs to carve out a piece of the door to give them the perfect fit and make them functional with the rest of the new door knobs.  We have the tools to do this from all of the doors we replaced in our last house, but the hubs is not fond of home improvement projects.  Since I had him updating our guest bathroom this weekend, I didn’t have the heart to make him do all six of these doors too.  We will need to do it some point and time, and when we do I'll give these a coat of ORB paint before they go in the doors.

In the meantime, I am using the original piece that came with our builder-grade door knobs.  It’s actually a little loose with my new knobs. It does work, but the problem is that we can only turn the new door knobs one way with this original piece.  For now, this is just a quick fix….it’s not a long term solution.  When the hubs carves out all the doors, this problems will be solved.  Unfortunately, I know my husband, and it could be a year before that happens;)

The second problem that I ran into was with the dummy door knob for my French door.  I thought that the builder-grade dummy door knob came apart into several pieces, and I had planned on using the plate from my builder-grade dummy door knob to put on my knew glass door knob …..however, the plate did not detach from the knob.  To fix this little problem, I had to go to Lowe’s and buy a set of door knob plates for $2.50.

The next problem that I ran into was once again with the dummy door knob. There was no way for ther plates that I bought from Lowe's to screw onto the glass door knob.  This was an easy fix though. I attached the plate to the knob with some epoxy glue that I had on hand.  Problem solved;)

What was supposed to be a one hour project ended up consuming most of my Saturday.  But I have to say that it was totally worth it!  I LOVE the character that these glass door knobs give our master bedroom!  And I LOVE the price that I paid for all six of them!  The lesson to be learned here is "if at first you don't succeed, try and try again":) 

Let’s total up the cost of this project: $40 for 5 brass glass door knobs, $5 for one glass dummy door knob, $8 for one can of oil rubbed bronze spray paint and $2.50  for a set of door knob plates.  That brings the total cost of this project to about $60!   Yes, $60 for 6 glass door knobs is a lot better than paying $25-$50 for one oil rubbed bronze glass door knob! 

Another home project complete!  Only a bazillion more to go…...or at least it feels that way to me;)




I'm linking to these parites this week:)

More TP Art

 Yesterday, I mentioned that we have been working on our guestroom.  I also mentioned how frugal and creative I've been trying to be in this space.  And that's where yesterday's post,Toilet Paper Tubes Turned  into Art, came in.  Today, I want to share with you more toilet paper art:) 

I am often inspired by other people's creations, but I rarely ever like other people's creations so much that I make the exact same creation....that is until now. 

Several months ago I saw this post from Just a Girl, and I knew I had to create the same piece of art for the guestroom.  In general, toilet paper art is pretty genious, but Just A Girl took it to a new level of genious.  Her peice was simple but beautiful, and I loved it!  The only thing I did different on mine was add a ribbon.  I also used fewer flowers, because my board was a little smaller than hers.  Overall, I'd say it looks really good in the guestroom, especially considering what it's made of;)

Because I had leftover paint, hot glue and ribbon from previous projects, the only thing I had to buy for this project was the foam board.  Since I found my foam board at the Dollar Tree, this project cost me a grand total of $1.  Here's how to turn toilet paper tubes into art......

Cut each tube into six pieces.

Using hot glue, glue the ends of two pieces and pinch them together like this…..

….until you have glued four pieces together to form a flower like this.

Spray paint each individual flowers using a primer or a paint that will stick to all surfaces, even plastic.  For some reason, basic $1 spray paint didn’t stick to the tubes, so I had to buy  $5 primer.

Once the flowers dry, hot glue them to a foam board.  I found my board at the Dollar Tree, but most stores will have them for less than $5.

Next, tie a ribbon and hot glue the ends of the ribbon to the back of the board....

.....so it hangs like this.  One small nail is all you need to hang this light piece of art.

Not too bad for $1 art, huh? I think it looks pretty good in the guestroom.  The best part is that when we are ready to turn the guestroom into a nursery or a kid's room, I won't feel too bad getting rid of the guestroom decor, because I barely spent any money on it:)