My 1st Hole in the Wall

I have officially devirginized my walls.  That's right.  After living here for eight months, I finally nailed in the first hole.  Well, seven holes, actually.  I made a   frame collage stolen inspired by this picture at Young House Love.

To make mine, I started by finding a frame for the middle to save the most money I could.  I have collected so many frames over the years with my dad being a framer.  This particular one was a mahogany color with a black and gold mat.  I sprayed it write and kept thinking about ways to salvage the mat.  Then, I kept an eye out for frames anywhere I went.  

I found the 5x7 frames at Garden Ridge.  These are the only two that came in my white color scheme.  I got the 8x10 and 11x14 frames at Wal-Mart.  They came with a white mat; however, they were all black frames.  After spraying all frames white, I knew I needed to add a little texture and contrast in there to break up the white frames on the white mats (plus the black and gold mat was still an issue).  My solution - cover the mats with fabric.

To cover them, I just ironed my fabric, cut out a piece that was about 1/2 inch larger than the mat of all four sides, sprayed the front of the mat with spray adhesive and placed it face down on the wrong side of the fabric.

Then, I cut a hole in the middle of the fabric, cut an "x" and stopped sharply at each corner, trimmed the excess fabric and tightly hot glued down all edges.  

Yes, a really good blogger would have pictures of each step that were Photoshoped for optimal aesthetic pleasure!

The last part was to hang them.  My strategy: center the large picture above my bench (which is already centered on that wall), hang the frames on the right side and then try to match the left side.  The outcome: total success!  Here are some after pictures:

The last part of this project is to fill the empty frames with some art and color.  I have been chewing on that one since I wrote this post weeks ago.  I have ordered a few things from ETSY and have made a little art myself that you will get to read about soon.  Until then, I just stare at the progress I have made so far and keep thinking that these frames will get to hold a lot of cool things over the years as our lives and styles change.


Here is the final breakdown of my expenses:


Large frame: FREE
(2) 5x7 frames: $9.98
(2) 8x10 frames: $6.00
(2) 11x14 frames: $25.94
1 yard of fabric: $1.00 (clearance)
spray paint: already had
spray adhesive: already had


Total: $42.92


What is it that makes nailing that first hole in a new wall so difficult?  What do you like to frame other than photographs?  Have you even been inspired by a photo online?

I am linked up to The Stories of A to Z