Thrift Store RePurposed Frames

Mary Ann Goldberg
by Mary Ann Goldberg
4 Materials
$7
1 Day
Easy
In my quest to make order out of the disorder in the rec room, I needed a way to organize my thread spool stash.
The goal was to get rid of the chaos that resided in the shoe box full of spools in my craft closet.
Being me, I failed to take a before picture of the frames. Suffice it so say that the two 8" x 10" frames (above in red) were relieved of their glass and backer boards. The item in blue was one of the two 1/2" plywood inserts that took the place of the removed backer boards. The plywood would provide the stability to hold the nails that hold the spools.
I continued painting the items, choosing to decorate them a little by using tape to make stripes.
In addition, I spray painted over a piece of lace. This created a pattern on the board.


The next step was to nail in these long nails. The 3-1/2" length nails were long enough for the placement of the longer spools and their bobbins, too! The small nail head allowed even the smallest spools to also fit.
To make sure the nails were uniformly spaced and tilted at the same degree, I needed some type of template to help. Eventually I came up with using these painting pyramids. Perfect! The nails were hammered in - all uniform, which is very hard to do free hand. Then, along with the pyramids, I used a very technical piece of equipment . . .
a ruler. Using it to space each nail, along with the pyramid for correct degree of tilt, this project came out so much better than I imagined! Just about perfect.
Next I loaded on the spools. I couldn't wait to see how well it would work. Mighty fine!
I removed the spools and glued the frames to the plywood and added the hangers to the back. I then rehung the spools in color order. I only needed one frame for now, but have the second frame ready to go when needed.
This photo of the back shows how much the plywood protrudes beyond the frame. This allows the nails to be driven deeper for stability.
The frame was hung on the wall. By doing this project I eliminated the ugly box I had used previously. What an improvement!
Suggested materials:
  • Frames   (Thrift store)
  • Nails   (Home Depot)
  • Circular saw, paint, spray paint, paint brush, pyramid   (Already had)
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  • JudyH JudyH on Apr 11, 2018

    What a wonderful idea!! I just love it and I'm putting it at the top of my 'to-do-next' list!! Love how you put a design using the lace. I'm thinking of painting primary color stripes so that I can put all my blue thread on the blue strip, etc. Not sure about it - have to sort the thread first. I'm also thinking of hanging it on the inside of a cabinet door ... may need to skip one row of nails to allow for the shelve inside the cabinet ... You've certainly got my mind spinning with ideas! Thanks for sharing!! Love it!! The one you created is so artistic and functional!

  • Carol Bellinger Carol Bellinger on Mar 27, 2019

    Thank you for this amazing idea. I have thread in nearly every drawer in my house. I must do this. A big thank you for sharing

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