Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Homefront: My Very Own Frame Wall


Remember my frame wall rant post? I bought tons of frames with the intention of painting them white and doing a nice gallery wall, and the pile sat there collecting dust, stressing me out, so I got rid of most of them. Here is what this space above my couch looked like before. I love the wrought iron circle I painted in a distressed aqua, and now it's over the tv.


Well... while I was at Goodwill the other day, I saw this lovely painting of this little Native American girl by Bettina Steinke. Really, isn't she just a precious doll? It was in some obscure aisle, and I picked it up and put it in my cart. I walked around some more, and decided, what am I going to do with it? So, I put her back in another obscure aisle (shame on me, I know).

An hour later (yes, when I go to Goodwill, it takes a few hours) I stumbled across this girl in another part of the store and I walked by. By the time I got to the frames, she had been brought back there. By this time, it kept getting harder to walk away, so for $3.99, I brought her home, and my son has named her Sammie.


I also brought home the embroidered flower photo, oil flower vase painting, raccon sketch and the automobile photos. I even put several things back, they just had tons of great vintage finds! Some frames I already had, so I filled them with bits of vintage maps and bookplates of flower sketches. I really need to add more family photos, but since this digital camera age has sprouted, I haven't printed photos off in ages! (sorry Grandma).


Since we will most likely be leaving this apartment in a few months, I figured, why hesitate on the frame wall? If we don't like it, we will be moving so who cares!

All I did, was lay the frames on the floor until I liked the arrangement. Then, I took a picture of it. I picked up the pictures from the ground and brought them up to the wall one by one and nailed them in. If I forgot how one went, I referred to my camera screen. Easy.


But... I love it. I'm so glad I did this. And when I showed everyone my frame placement floor layout ideas, you all persuaded me to make it grand instead of a smaller grouping like I intended. And really, with these high walls, the larger grouping looks best. Adding in the wood letters and smaller pieces helped close in odd gaps and hide nail holes I used when trying to get the placement right.

 
This post is linked to A Soft Place to Land's DIY Day!

12 comments:

Kristina P. said...

Your frame wall is much more charming than mine!

Sarah Larsen said...

LOVE IT! I love that you weren't afraid to put a picture of Christ in the mix. You have rad taste.

Anne said...

That is really beautiful! It turned out so lovely. May I ask how you like your white slipcovers? With two boys, are they hard to keep clean?

Little Lovables said...

That Christ picture prompted me to do the frame wall. It didn't go with my decor, and I felt bad having it on a hidden wall, so I made it work, and I love it.

It's such a lovely picture.

Little Lovables said...

Anne, I have some stains on the seats... but I wash them about every 2 weeks with some baking soda and oxiclean and they come out pretty good.

I spot clean the stains and though they don't always come out, they get lighter every time.

Of course, if it's a massive stain (like when they smashed 20+ blackberries on them) I immediately spot cleaned them with a baking soda paste, soaked them in bleach for about 30 minutes and washed them, and they came out fine.

Jessica said...

Looks great!! Good job!

Anonymous said...

Awesome! I just created my very own frame wall too, and it makes me smile and proud every time I look at it!
Good for you! You did a great job!!

Jody McDowell said...

i LOVE it! it looks great.. i love all the variety and colors!

Perfect Balance Marketing said...

So pretty - I too have a stash of frames that I'm planning on painting.... may have to change my plan! xox

Bethany Dirksen said...

This turned out really really well! I love the feel to all the individual pieces.

Rebekah said...

I like the combination of natural and painted frames. That may be the solution I need for my own gallery wall quandary! Thanks for the inspiration. :)

Sarah said...

thank you for posting this!!! i have searched and searched trying to find some wall clusters to do above our couch!!!! you read my mind!!!

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