Remember those picture frames I got at a rummage sale back in May? I decided to give them some fresh life.  They were just simple Ribba frames from Ikea.  Kind of boring and nothing special.  They had never been used and two of them were still in the package.  I’m on an industrial vintage vibe lately, and I loved the way the G and B turned out for Greg and Betsy.  I decided I would give these frames the same treatment.  It feels both modern and industrial vintage.

I gathered all of my various paint brushes, paints in black and silver, ordered Monuments Men from On Demand, and got to work.

Tool

• Black and Silver Paint
• Picture Frames
• Paint Brushes
• Spray Sealer (optional)

I started by taking them apart and setting the back, matting and glass aside.  I wiped the frames down quickly to make sure there was nothing on them.

Then I took brush and started painting the fame with the black paint.  I soon found out that using a normal brush wasn’t going to work.  The paint wouldn’t stick and wound up being streaky.  Since I didn’t have any primer, I ran to Michael’s (at 8pm) with the hope of finding some.  Unfortunately, I did not. I really didn’t want to run to multiple stores, so back home I went empty handed.  I did however decide to sponge the black paint on, mostly dabbing it on, instead of brushing it on.  That seemed to work.  I did have to give each frame 2 coats (3 in some spots).

I waited for everything to be dry.  It was kind of muggy so it seemed to take longer to dry, so I let the frames sit.  Saturday I painted the silver over the black.

I tried to use as little silver paint and work in small sections brushing in different directions, somewhat haphazardly.

Originally I was going to hang them on the wall going up stairs.  But I like them better in my kitchen.  In addition to painting these frames, I had been collecting 4×4 so I can print some of my favorite pictures from my Instagram account. I printed the pictures from Walgreen’s, and decided to finally display them.  I laid out all of the pictures to find which pictures and frames looked the best.

I hung some of my favorites in my gallery wall going up stairs, and other’s I’ve dispersed through out my home.

I like the gallery wall.  I like to mix photos I took and vintage family photo.  There’s no rhyme or reason to any of the pictures or frames, just ones that strike my fancy.