Old window repurposed into photo frame | Upcyle DIY

I love bold colors, soft colors, simple colors, and dark colors. I just love color. We have recently moved into a new home, where 100% of the walls are white, and it is currently not in our budget to go out and buy gallons and gallons of paint for me to paint the entire interior walls & trim of our home. Because of this, I have been trying to come up with creative (no cost) ways to bring some color to our house and our walls, using supplies that I already have from previous projects.
Today while digging through the attic for something, (it sure seems a lot of my projects start this way ) I came across an old window frame I had got off of FreeCycle two years ago for $0.00 from a 1926 home in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. I gathered up some supplies and some B+W photographs I had in a bin, and got to work on creating a cool picture frame to hang along the stairway in our house!
Wall Art DIY | How to turn an old window into a new picture frame.
Project Time: 30 minutes
Project Level: Easy.
Project Supplies: Old window, photographs (print according to your window size), tape/photo corners, paint, paintbrush, drop cloth.
Project steps:
1.) Clean your window, frame + glass, front + back.
2.) 'Dry' brush paint color of your choice on to the wood portion of the frame. To dry brush means to have very little paint on your brush, if needed you may dip the tip of your brush into the paint can and dab onto a paper plate and then brush quickly and softly onto your window.
I suggest not being a perfectionist for this, and just going full force and getting it done at a quick speed, this allows for imperfections which creates a better vintage & eclectic look and feel. Mistakes are OK!
3.) Once the paint is 100% dry, flip the window over and place all of your photographs in each paneled section. Use photo corners or simply attach photos to the back of the window with tape.
4.) Find the perfect spot to hang your new window frame and enjoy your new wall art!
Adding some color and a new conversation piece to your home is as simple as that!
Happy painting & thanks for reading,
~Kelly
~*~
Supplies I love that made this project possible:
*Clark & Kensington flat enamel paint. You can see another project I created with this same paint, here.
*Tomboy Tools pink paintbrush. Available for purchase, here. Or you may email Tracey at tomboytracey@aol.com , make sure to tell her Kelly from The Pink Hammer blog referred you!
Anchored Way Trading Co.
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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Frequently asked questions
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  2 questions
  • Anne Anne on Jan 12, 2016
    what kind of adhesive did you use for the pictures?
  • Terri Terri on Feb 15, 2020

    How did you hang it on the wall?

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