How to create a shabby chic photo frame (for a quarter of the price)
While furniture may be essential for making your house comfortable, it’s often the soft furnishings that turn a house into a home. Whether it be a canvas, large framed image or a selection of 8x4s, nothing personalises a space like photos. Not only a chance to share memories, framing photos also offers the opportunity to get creative and tap into your home décor to create something that adds to the room as a whole.
Shabby chic is all about capturing that rustic, gently distressed vibe. Perfect for homes with a coastal or more traditional decorating scheme, a shabby chic frame can be customised using colour to fit a range of different decors, at a fraction of the cost of a bought frame.
Here’s how to do it…
You’ll need:
- A wooden picture frame
- Two pieces of sand paper – one fine, one coarse
- A broad bristled paint brush
- Your chosen paint colour plus standard white paint
Directions:
- If your picture frame is glossy or already has a coat of paint, start by sanding it back to create a clean surface. Leaving a glossy coat behind will make it tricky to create the distressed look you are going for.
- Once sanded back, use a damp cloth to wipe away dust or any remaining residue.
- Paint two coats of your chosen colour onto the frame and set aside to dry.
- When completely dry, start sanding! You want to take the top layer of the paint almost off.
- Wipe frame clean with a clean, dry cloth.
- Dilute white paint with a ratio of two parts paint to one part water.
- Paint onto the frame, working into the sanded back parts.
- Use a damp cloth to both smudge in the colour and wipe some away to create a distressed look.
- Set aside to dry.
- You can seal with a clear gloss sealant if you choose to or simply allow to dry completely before using.
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