Oversized Vintage Frame Art

by Jessica on September 22, 2015

I’m a big fan of breathing new life into old things. This oversized frame project takes a hideously ornate frame – the kind you often see at thrift stores (or on the curb!) – and creates a beautiful statement piece for your wall. I was looking for something to fill a space above my daughter’s dresser and when my elderly neighbour was cleaning out her house, I quickly snapped this up (much to her shock….’why would you want such an ugly thing?’)

By: Jessica

Those of you who have followed some of my other posts know that I’m a big fan of spray paint. Seriously, it’s magic! The first step was prepping my space — make sure you have a well-ventilated area or a big space outside. I set up in my backyard and spread a large painting sheet out.

The next step was deciding how I wanted the colour to look — in this case, I decided to create a one inch border of the gold on the inside of the frame edge. I covered all around that area with painter’s tape and went to town. The key to successful spray painting is patience (so hard!). Once I’d finished the gold edge, I left it dry for several hours — I’d recommend overnight if you can wait.

Next was covering the newly-painted gold area with painter’s tape and spray painting the rest of the outer frame. For that, I chose a high gloss navy spray paint. Next to gold, I think navy spray paint might just be my go-to. It’s such a rich colour and the high gloss adds a professional look to the piece.

Again: patience — remove the tape after an hour or two and then let the entire piece sit for another 24-48 hours to completely dry (and for the spray paint smell to dissipate).

Once the piece is dry, it’s ready to hang! I deliberately wanted an empty frame to hang on the wall — I liked the idea of seeing the wall behind and sticking up pieces of my daughter’s artwork or family photos within the frame space. To hang it on the wall, I removed the ancient wire from the frame and added two picture framing hooks – one on either side. Because my frame was large, I chose two hooks to help evenly balance it on the wall.