DIY Frame TV
By now you’ve probably heard of or seen the Samsung Frame TV. Not only are they beautiful, I mean they look like a piece of art instead of a box black box eye sore, but they are also beautifully expensive. Although I would love a new, modern profiled TV, $1600 for one just wasn’t in the budget, so like with most DIYs, I found a creative way to get the look for less.
STEP 1: CHOOSE MOLDING + BUILD FRAME
I started with choosing some molding that fits my home’s aesthetic. Depending on the thickness of your TV’s current frame you may be able to go a lot thinner that I did. Ours was pretty wide, so I chose this molding that has a traditional feel and was wide enough to fully cover our TV frame.
I measured the dimensions of our TV screen so I would be sure not to block any of the picture with the frame. Then I used my miter saw to cut the trim to size to build my frame.
A little pro tip here, to help ensure your frame is perfectly square, make a cut, then line up your cut piece next to the uncut piece to get a perfect mark that will result in two pieces exactly the same size. Sometimes going on measurements alone you might find there is a little difference between cuts.
Once the pieces were cut I used wood glue and staples to hold the corners together. I used corner clamps to hold them in place while the glue was drying. I also shot a couple of brad nails in from the sides for extra hold.
*If you are using squared edge pieces, or if you are doing a butt joint at the corners, you could easily just use brad nails to hold he corners together.
Next I used wood glue to fill nail holes and gaps.
STEP 2: ATTACH BRACKET + PAINT
Next up I built the bracket for the back that allows the new frame to rest on the old TV frame. There are a lot of different ways you could build a bracket or attach the new frame to the old, but I had these scrap pieces laying around, cut them to size and nailed them in.
Like so.
I used this satin black spray paint to full cover the frame and the bracket.
To jazz it up I use painters tape to tape off a small portion of the frame, then used Rub N Buff to create a gold touch.
More Rub 'n Buff Ideas
And done!
Here is the before...
And here is the after! Our TV is a literal work of art!
You can download apps like ArtCast, or using Amazon photos to display art on your smart TV or through devices like Fire Sticks or Rokus.
Or you can go to YouTube and look up art for your TV and set it to play. One thing to note is that displaying art DOES require your TV to be on, and if you have an applicable TV you may need to be cautious of screen burn from displaying an image for a long period of time.
Displaying art or not, this frame totally spruced up the appearance of our TV. We plan to mount it, and I think it will be a beautiful, artistic addition to our bedroom decor.
Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?
How is the frame attached to the tv
As to the L frame...you mention sliding it down onto the tv frame. So, does that mean you are only putting the Lframe on the top? Otherwise how can you slide it down if on all four corners? TY
How do you keep from covering up the little on-off sensor in the bottom left corner?