Oh how I love Nate Berkus. Plain and simple, he has some awesome ideas and tips. That's why he has his own TV show. Let’s talk frames. Nate says the best way to create a wall grouping of frames is to make sure they all match in color.
Now most of us probably have a bunch of miss-matched frames sitting in our house. That is unless in your decorating prowess knew to buy the same colored frames. I did not. So while living in dorm rooms and apartments I had amassed a miss-matched collection of frames. Just look at the below photo. Had I known I would be starting a blog I would have remembered to snap a “before” photo. Try to imagine all the frames in varying colors.
Enter Spray Paint. By painting all of your frames to match you create a unified grouping - regardless of what is inside each one. Sure you could go out and buy new frames, but this blog isn't about buying new. It's about learning to re-use and not junking perfectly good stuff.
The process is simple. Clean the frames to remove any dust. Then, paint in a well ventilated area. Thin coats is key! Doing multiple thin coats looks a lot better than two thick ones. In terms of which brand is best, I'm not loyal and typically go with the cheapest option at whichever store I'm at. Krylon makes a good product and it's really cheap at Wal-Mart.
I skipped sanding and priming because frames aren’t generally in scenarios where they might get scratched and ruin the finish. In terms of which finish to use, that is personal. I typically like to use a more matte finish on frames, but when I worked on this project I had glossy can on hand thus saving me a trip to the store.
I left the large brown frame un-painted because it had writing on it and it was a wedding gift. Sometimes you just have to break rules, especially when it’s your house. At the end of the day, you have to love walking into your home or as Nate would say, “your house needs to rise up to you when you walk through the door.”
Don't get me wrong, you can still create a grouping of mis-matched frames such as this one from Pottery Barn:
If you notice, there is a theme of black, brown, white and cream frames dispersed throughout the grouping. Since my frames didn't have a theme in color it made sense to paint them and create unification. Below are some other examples of wall groupings done in one color.
What a wonderful idea! I also have a lot of "junk" and am trying to make it look like I have some taste
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