I’ve decided that I want a picture wall.

You know, the walls with a ridiculous amount of different sized frames all squished together? When I first started seeing these on the internet I strongly disliked them… I thought they looked so messy. Obviously now I have changed my mind :). Then I saw an example done by Young House Love {^above} and a few others that took a more organized approach and I  started to rethink the idea.

Here is where I want to put it {in our living room above the couch}. Right now there is just a small piece of art, which I love, but which is also a bit small for the space.

I heard a rumor that you could get a variety of frames at the dollar tree {for $1 if that wasn’t obvious}, and sure enough they had tons of options! And to think I was dropping $5-10+ dollars a frame at Target?? I chose 25 assorted frames for just $26.75 after tax!

My next step was to spray paint any frames that weren’t already black – there’s no way I could have had them all different colors! It was a little annoying getting all the glass panes out.. these frames have metal prongs around the boarder holding it in. Once I did however, I realized the prongs were perfect for holding the frames off the ground for painting.. woohoo! I used Krylon fusion in Black Satin – I LOVE the finish it gave them.

A word to the wise: follow the instructions on the can! {I learned the importance of wiping these down with Mineral Spirits & spraying at a distance of 8″ or more.}

This is what happens when you don’t wipe it down first & spray to close! It was fine after a second coat. Luckily this was my first and only frame I messed up so terribly

Also the can recommended it be 50 degrees or more.. it was like 45 and I did have to go back over a couple of them… I ended up using the whole can! They turned out great though so I’m not complaining.

 I brought them in after a couple hours and laid them out on our table. This shows some of the variety in textures…

 

The frames will be completely set after 7 days {they are fine to handle after 1 hour, just not 100% scratch proof or whatever happens while they set up} so I’ll let them set for a week. Can’t wait to find some images for these babies!

Related

Picture Wall Progress: Laying It All Out

At the end of December I posted about finding & spray painting my 25 frames for the picture wall I wanted to create. Now I'm about half way through hanging my pictures & thought I'd share some of my progress :) To arrange my pictures I traced each one onto newspaper…

January 15, 2012

In "Home Décor"

Our Picture Wall is Finally Finished!

As a little reminder, here's where we started: after purchasing and spray painting my frames, I traced & numbered them all on newspaper and started laying them out... After getting everything hung, I decided it wasn't quite right, and ended up deciding to redo it!  Despite my reluctance to put even more…

July 22, 2012

In "Home Décor"

Inexpensive Wall Décor

 I love art. And I love the cutesy kids type art that I see all over Target and everywhere else these days... what I am not loving is the price they want me to pay for said art. {Example}   So what do I do? Well I make an attempt…

October 25, 2011

In "Home Décor"