An antique picture frame redo

 A while back, I found the coolest old frame at a flea market.   But it certainly needed a redo.

This is how it began. I liked that it wasn't perfect, was a bit beat up and looked its age, but the pictures sure weren't my style, and I like things much lighter.

I've done a lot of painting over the years, and have many how to's listed HERE.  For different looks, you paint things in different ways.  For this, I wanted it white, but not "clean" white. So, instead of priming, like I suggest in most of the tutorials, I lightly sanded it. When I coated it in white satin latex paint, some of the wood tones bled through.

If I had used a primer, I'd have lost a lot of the wood grain that I wanted to still see.  This paint was pure white, but also because I didn't prime, the wood wasn't sealed.  The natural oils of the old wood stain caused the paint to darken.

I did a purposely semi-sloppy paint job, didn't get all the edges, left the indentations in the trim dark.  But I was careful to always make my brush strokes the same direction as the wood grain so it didn't look messy.

The frame sections weren't typical modern sizes, so I didn't have pictures that would fit without having mats cut to fill out the frames. And since I didn't want the formal look (and expense) of mats, I layered cut out pictures of my fairy grand daughters over sheet music. 

This is not a technique I would try on something that was in heavy duty use, like a table top. Unless I applied a ton more elbow grease into the sanding. But for a decorative wall piece, the light bit of sanding was plenty.

Once I was done taking a picture of the pictures, the dorkies insisted that I photograph them. They patiently waited by the bench while I took the frame's picture, then jumped up for their turn as soon as I moved it. 

How could I say no to them? Little hams!