One woman’s trash . . .

Is another woman’s treasure. This saying rings particularly true when it comes to me and antique finds. Anyone who knows me, also knows that I swoon over a dusty phonograph and pine for Victorian button tucked couches. The only problem with antiques is that you usually pay an arm and a leg for them, so when a friend of mine offered to give up two antique picture frames, I was overjoyed and snatched them up right away.

The frames were dated, as they surrounded an array of pressed flowers on a bed of green felt, totally circa 1970. I saw no reason that these brassy frames couldn’t be turned into something chic and stylish to spice up the grey walls of my bedroom.

I’ve always been fascinated with home decor tips that suggest using empty frames to fill a wall space. I almost find it to be counter-intuitive to hang something, that should contain a work of art or glimpse of a memory, with an empty space in the middle. However, after seeing it executed in a way that made the home seem warm instead of empty, I thought the empty frame idea might not be so bad. I also liked the use of this decorating style here and here.

After emptying out the frames, they still needed to be spruced up.The brassy edges were tarnished and gold simply isn’t part of my interior decor colour palette. I saw great potential in these two pieces as intense black frames and the DIY process of making them new-age chic was so simple!

This is what you need:

I used an auto-air colour paint, usually used for car touch-ups, because it will adhere best to metals. After 12 hours of drying, the frames were ready to hang.

As you can see, a very simple process for a rewarding final product. . .

Tell us what you think about picture frames with no pictures! Chic or cold? Ala mode or overdone?