Upcycled Frame and Fabric Wrapped Cork Board

Today continues my adventures in spray painting. I made a fabric wrapped cork board out of a fun frame I found at Goodwill. Here's the finished product, currently chilling on my desk.

I started with this frame, which I fought and beat (not literally) another woman over at my local Goodwill.

At $10.50, it was worth the battle. That chunky scalloped trim reminded me of a good pie crust, and I figured it would look yummy spray painted white. (Please ignore the picture.)

First I wiped the frame down to get rid of any dust and dirt accumulated over the years. Then I sprayed the frame using thin, even coats until it was completely covered.

My weapon of choice was Rust-oleum spray paint in a semi-gloss white. I used a comfort grip spray nozzle attachment to get the even coverage I was going for. The spray paint and the attachment (which I can use again on future projects) were about $10.00 combined.

After the letting the frame dry according to the directions on the can, it was time to remove the picture from the frame so I could apply the cork to the picture (which was printed on a thin piece of wood rather than canvas). This required removing the staples holding the picture in place with a stapler remover.

Next I attached a roll of cork that I snagged at Michael's for about $10 to the picture. In my excitement I forgot to stop and snap some pictures but here's my process: I unrolled the cork and cut it down to fit the picture. Once I had it cut to size, I used Aleene's Tacky Spray to adhere it to the picture.

Then I placed the picture cork-side down and let the adhesive cure for 30 minutes with weight on top of it.

Once the cork was firmly attached to the picture, I wrapped it in my chosen fabric, some Waverly Lattice in Lagoon that I had turned into bathroom curtains at our old house. The only tricky part was making sure the pattern was straight on the cork board. Once I had everything the way I wanted it, I cut the fabric down, leaving a 1" edge around the cork board.

I then folded the edge over the back of the board, making sure the fabric was taught, and stapled it around all sides of the frame.

When I was done, it looked like this.

Last it was time to adhere the cork board to the frame using a staple gun.

With my custom cork board complete, I put it in place on my desk and began pinning away using 1-1/2" silver pins usually used in sewing and upholstery (just because I liked the way they looked).

I love having some inspiration to stare at as I work, blog, and surf the internet.

This project was so easy, quick, and fun that I can't wait to try some variations. Custom mirrors, anyone? 

Patio Furniture Makeover

We were fortunate enough to be handed down this patio furniture before we moved. It didn't really fit with our old casa, but I am glad we held onto it; the bar height is perfect for seeing over the fence and enjoying the views from the backyard. The only problem was the speckled beige paint that totally blended in with our tan exterior. Boring and blah!

So after looking at outdoor furniture finishes at the big box stores, and hearing YHL rant and rave about oil rubbed bronze spray paint, I decided to bite to bullet and get three cans of Rust-oleum Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint.

I had been worried about how light seats would look with a dark base, but then I remembered this chair Janice transformed.

Image via Life Begins at Thirty, Right?

I figured with a fun pillow (that I will make down the road with some outdoor fabric I already have on hand), the contrast might look chic, like Janice's chair, instead of hey-I-was-spray-painted.

But before I could start spraying away, I needed to prep. I hosed down the dirty furniture and scrubbed everything down with a sponge and let it dry in the sun. While everything was drying, I removed the vinyl protectant wrapped around the base of the chairs to protect them from being scuffed by shoes (since they are bar height).

Then I built a spray painting corner in the unused side yard so I could spray outside (for ventilation), without spraying the fence or concrete. Here she is. What a beaut.

I carefully sprayed the table first according to the directions on the can, let it dry for an hour, and turned it so I could spray the opposite side and touch up any spots I missed. While the table dried for another hour I prepped the chairs by taping off the seats. I tell ya, this took longer and was more tedious than the actual painting.

Another can of spray paint per chair, and they looked like this.

One hour later, the paper came off and revealed chairs that looked like this:

(You can see where I missed a spot on the base of the chair in the second picture. I will touch it up, but I was relieved that it just looked a little bit dirty. No one seemed to notice.)

I let everything dry for 24 hours before putting the glass tabletop back on the table and accessorizing with some sand and votive filled mason jars.

The oil rubbed bronze ties into the door and window frames, and the seats tie into the exterior paint. (We hope to paint and install new windows and doors down the road, but at least for now, the furniture looks like it was chosen to complement the house.) Not bad for a set of free furniture and $21.00 for spray paint.

I will share another spray paint project I took on later in the week. Suffice it to say that I am fully addicted. If you come over, I might just spray paint you! I can't believe it took me this long to embrace the aerosol.