before & after: wall photo collage

A few of you asked about this, so here goes...The wall above our kitchen table needed a spruce up. The black table we refinished along with the black frame was a little to, well, black and boring. So I finally decided to jump on the wall collage bandwagon to brighten things up.

Before

I used my birthday quarters  to purchase frames from yard sales and thrift stores. I tell you what, yard sales are the way to go. People are so desperate to get rid of their junk, they will usually make you a pretty good deal. I got many of the frames for less than a dollar. All of the frames, including some I have had for a few years, cost me $8.

I had a few rules as I searched for frames. 1. Don't buy any black frames because it would be hard to make them white.  2. All of the frames had to have a hook on them to hang. 3. Find a variety of frames that will add character. It would be too hard to find all similar frames, so I looked for ones with different edges and textures.

As soon as I found all the frames, I spray painted them white. It took a few coats. I used Wal-mart spray paint that cost me $1 a can. It took about 2.5 cans to spray all of them a few times. So total for the project was $11!

The next thing I did was something I cannot take credit for. I traced all of the frames onto paper bags (in fact the same ones I sprayed them on). I cut the shapes out and then taped them on the wall. This allowed me to change things around before I made it final with the nails.  I left it up for a few days just to make sure I was going to like it. I change my mind quite a bit, you know :)

Brandon is the perfectionist in our family, so I made him help me pound the nails. I'm so happy with how it turned out! (*The small oval frame contains my mom's cross-stitched holiday cookie jar lids. I love having her art on the wall to remind me of her and her love for the holidays.)