Last year at our church’s yard sale, I snatched up these two big, brown and tan frames…
…really I didn’t snatch them because they were left when the whole thing was over, lonely, and wanted by nobody. Crazy since they’re so awesome, right? I know, they’re so ugly and because of that, I paid only $3 a piece for them. But, wait for it, wait for it…
Look who’s crying now! All the people who passed them up, that’s who!
And I’ll tell you who else is crying…me. I’m crying because I was in such a hurry to get them painted one day last week while Diego and baby Jaguar entertained the kids that I didn’t take progress pictures of that part of the makeover. Sorry! One of my biggest pet peaves is when a DIY blogger doesn’t post enough pictures of the process and here I am, making my peave real. Way to go, Sheena.
I will tell you though that, after I gave them a good wash-down with a damp cloth, I took the glass and mat out, took them outside, and gave them a coat of my favorite spray primer* in white:
Then, since I didn’t have any white spray paint on hand, I brushed two coats of latex paint from a sample jar I had on hand onto them. I’ve been struggling with finding a white spray paint that is more of a creamy white lately so this was just perfect anyway. I love their chunky edges all covered in white.
After painting the frames, it was onto the mats. They were layered with three different pieces – the two bottom pieces were brown and tan and the top had an ivory, woven fabric laid over the top. I loved the woven texture of the top mat but the color…not so much. So, I tried to paint it gray.
First, I carefully peeled the top and middle layers apart from each other. 
Then, I took the two fabric-laden mats outside and gave them each a couple of light coats of this spray primer:
I found it for $1.99 at Dirt Cheap and didn’t recognize the brand or know what exactly it should be used for (turns out it’s mainly used for metal), but it was gray and gray was what I wanted. Paint is paint, right? Maybe…
Well, it went on fine but it left the fabric looking a little, ummm, furry? However, I think it was the fabric more than the paint that caused the furriness. 
Brushing the mats with a small cleaning brush post-paint seemed to help a little though and I really wasn’t bothered by it not looking exactly like it did before, so I continued on after bedtime one night…
Originally, I had wanted to just cover up the old fabric with new fabric. I had fabric leftover from this desk project:
But sadly, I didn’t have enough leftover to cover the mats seamlessly and thanks to a spending freeze last month, I couldn’t just go grab some. But I loved the gray and white, hence my desire to turn the fabric to gray.
Anyway, I digress…
For the white, I grabbed the same sample jar of paint I had used to paint the frames and a painting sponge, laid the frames on an old sheet in the living room so I could watch Flea Market Flip while painting…
…and very imperfectly sponged on a cross-hatch design.
I’m talking very imperfectly. No measuring here folks. And really, to be honest, I was going for a herringbone pattern at first but messed up on the first dab of paint so cross-hatch was born. First rule of DIY: Always be open to improvising…or something like that.
The next day, when all the paint was nice and dry, I used some plain ‘ole Elmer’s glue to reattach the top mat to the bottom two.
Oh but I shouldn’t forget to tell you that, when I spray primed the frames white, I also used the same primer to paint what could be seen of the two bottom mats. No more tan and brown. Just white.
Reattaching the frames with the glue was super easy except I did need to be careful to make sure the top one went on straight and that there was equal spacing all around the inside of the mat.
Last, I put everything back together and the frames back up where they were days before.
I think these might’ve just bumped themselves up to Favorite-Frames-in-the-Whole-House status.
And lucky Sebastian gets to have them in his room.
I also had plans to fill them with a few blown up pictures of Sebastian but, yep, there’s that spending freeze again. Dang it. Plan B was to whip up some watercolor art with stuff I already had but then the week ended and this week began and they’re still just hanging empty. But it’s okay because the corner they’re in just got a little happier and time will fill them with something I’m sure.
On a side note, I pulled out that old, black and white poncho/blanket of Anthony’s from the window where it’s been hiding (he got it in Mexico while on a mission trip there in high school) and laid it over the chair and either it looks great or the brown slipcover just looked so blah that anything helps, but I kinda love it.
My favorite part is the fringe along the bottom.
The string lights hanging across the corner are another project that I can’t wait to finish (think unconventional lamp) but probably won’t finish for a bit (how I roll around here, if you’ve noticed) and here are the posts for some of the other things you can see when you peep into his room:
ceiling fan shade // greek key design on the window seat // stenciled curtains
It’s a happy little boy’s room that I’ve probably poured all of $50 into (if that) since he evicted the girls and it’s also the room that stays the cleanest in this house so I kind of love it. All that and the fact that every afternoon the sun comes pouring into the window making it light and bright might make it my favorite room in the house. :)
(Apparently I was in such a hurry to grab a ‘before’ that I forgot to straighten it over the bell…classy.)
