Before and After: Paint a Frame

Way back in November, I partook in one of our great family traditions. Every year after the turkey has been carved and the food fest is complete, my mom and I head down one of St. George, Utah’s finest establishments, Urban Renewal, to peruse their latest offerings. The shop offers a quirky mix of new items (think textiles, Asian influenced casegoods, bath products, candles, gifts and home décor accessories) as well as vintage items on consignment (wonderful artwork, furniture, home décor accessories, jewelry and clothing). This trip I picked up an original (I think) drawing of peacocks. The best part? It was under $15. And check this out. I told you how I’m all full of Scottish pride, well, as a card carrying member of Clan MacFarlane, I was surprised to see this little tag on the back of the frame:

Fate, right? Anyway, the painting was lovely, but the frame was…not so. Seeing as this was a cheapie find, I decided that rather than reframing it, I should just paint the frame. The easy choice would have been to remove the painting from the frame, paint and then put it all back together. But since it had been framed professionally and had a sealed back, I decide to tape the front of the glass with painter’s tape and go for it with a small craft brush rather than ripping the whole thing apart. Last weekend I (finally) picked up some champagne colored acrylic craft paint and off I went. (Thank you, thank you dear Mr. J for accompanying me to Michael’s. In the suburbs. You are a good man.) I did two quick coats, pulled off the tape, used a razor blade to scrape the one tiny spot where paint got on the glass and VOILA! The whole thing probably took half an hour.  Check out the befores:

And the afters:

Paint. A great way to class up those cheap-o thrift store finds, no? Just call me Martha.