How To Distress A Picture Frame From The Dollar Tree!

 

How To Distress A Picture Frame From The Dollar Tree!

Anyone have some classic oak frames that you’d rather be shabby chic or farmhouse style with some distressed white or light colored paint?  Here is an easy and frugal fix for that!  I’m going to show you how I transformed an inexpensive frame from the Dollar Tree, but this technique will work great on any frames – especially from a thrift store!

Materials you need to make your own distressed photo frame from a dollar store:

• 2 wood 5×7 photo frames (I got mine at the Dollar Tree)
• Unicorn Spit – Weathered Daydream and Rustic Realty colors
• Satin Heirloom White spray paint
• Dremel Multi-Max Oscillating Tool Kit Sanding Attachment

 

I have recently fallen in love with Unicorn Spit!  I learned about it from a video tutorial over on Hometalk.com.  When I realized the possibilities, I ordered a few colors to test it out.  It is a non-toxic wood gel/stain that smells like jasmine!  It’s super fun to work with and I’ll be sharing some more projects I have used it on soon.

So I took my oak colored dollar frames and put some Weathered Daydream (the gray/blue color) in just a few splotches around the edge.  Then I gently rubbed that on the top of the frame so that the indents and grain of the wood would get highlighted with that color.

I did the same with the Rustic Reality color – this darker shade gives the frame a bit more contrast.

Here it is after it dried with the 2 different colors of Unicorn Spit- It still has the oak background, the grains and indents and shadows all have a touch of gray/brown/blue tints that will come through after I cover it in white and distress it.

Then I took my Satin Heirloom White spray paint and just put one coat on each of the frames.

The next step is the most fun because it’s the final step and is what makes them look distressed and antique.

I used a Dremel Multi-Max tool with a sanding attachment and used that to sand the edges just enough to officially make it look distressed.  There is no real correct way to distress – I just went around the edges with the sanding tool and let the darker shades pop through until it looked antique or old enough for my taste.

I love how you can see numerous colors in this when you take a close-up look.  You can see some of the blue hues under the white paint.  The sanded edges show the original oak color – and some of the Unicorn Spit shades of blues and grays.

I used these to frame up some scrapbook paper that matched my Display Shelf Makeover where these now hang in my guest room.

 

Here they are paired up with the made over display shelf – perfect for my shabby chic/farmhouse guest room.

Be sure to check out how to do your own Display Shelf Makeover!

Or if you don’t want to DIY – then just go shopping!  Check out 20 Farmhouse Decor Items for less than $20!