Beautifully Tarnished: DIY Chunky Wood Frame

One of my favorite things to decorate with are chunky wood frames… but they can be really expensive and I just can’t justify spending money on them. So I made my own…

once I figured out what I was doing… it was really easy!

And the best part it only cost about $15

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Here is what I did… gather all of your supplies…

The first thing is to decided on a size and get a frame… I chose 8×10 and found my frame for $1.50 at a second hand store, but I could have bought a new frame. Also, the frame I bought was wood but it doesn’t have to be made of wood… it can be the pressed wood or plastic or whatever but make sure that the sides are flat and straight so the trim will sit against it solid.

I took my frame to the lumber store to help choose the trim that would look best with the frame… if the frame is really thick then the trim needs to be thick to match… {the trim I chose was really thin on the inside edge so I trimmed that edge off by running it through a table saw then it had a thicker edge where it met my frame}

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The other supplies needed:

~ L-brackets, they should come in a package of 4

~ short screws… I had to get smaller crews because the ones that came with the L-brackets were too long so I had to make sure that the screws didn’t go all the way through the trim.

~ silicone

~ paint

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I started by cutting the trim… I dry fit the pieces to the frame and made sure everything fit snug.

I attached the L-brackets to the trim by first pre-drilling the holes so the screws wouldn’t crack the trim and then put the screws in.

After each L-bracket I checked the front to make sure the corners were tight… or as tight as I could get them, but there were still cracks

I had to redo a couple corners to make sure the trim fit tight to the frame but finished with success

Now I have two frames… one inside the other, but before I secure them together I needed to fill in the cracks in the corners. So, I let the inside frame slide out and used painters putty to fill in the cracks.

After the putty dried I took a damp rag and wiped all the excess putty off the corners. Then I slid the picture frame back inside the trim frame and secured it with a bead of silicone along the back edges where they meet… making sure that it sat where I wanted it and looked good in the front.

I let it dry for a good couple hours before moving it.

Once good and dry it was ready for paint. I chose a dark brown craft paint first… I just brushed on one coat which doesn’t have to be perfect because I will add another color on top.

Once the first coat dries then its time for the last color. I chose a gray/white for the top coat… and painted two coats over the brown letting a little brown show through in some spots. {options for aging: vaseline before 2nd color to help age it or sanding around the edges but I chose neither}