Floating Frames Makeover

Sometimes when you get married, you inherit things from your spouse's single life. And sometimes, if you're lucky, they're salvageable.

This was not so for Kennedy's leather couch and matching chairs and ottomans, or his slate and iron coffee table and side tables (and sofa table.) Don't worry -- they went to good homes.

But when it comes to picture frames, I keep them around. Even if they have abstract asian-inspired artwork with words like "faith" and "spirit" on them. I figure it's a pretty easy fix to just switch out the art.

And I am just now noticing that the glass etched on each of these are 2 different colors. Probably because they have been in a closet for the almost 6 years since we have been married.

I've had this project in my brain for like, 3+ years. Then last week, Sherry at Young House Love showed how to make a floating frame, and I was like "that seems way easier than the way I was gonna do it."

The other dilemma I had was that I had nothing I really wanted to frame and hang up. Until I met you, Instagram ;-). 

Instagram came along and changed everyone's lives. Now we are all super artsy hipster photographers that are geniuses at capturing our every day lives - including but not limited to food, babies, drinks, cats, dogs, and fashion.

Why limit yourself to looking at those masterpieces on your phone? I want to display some. So I formatted two pictures I wanted to enlarge using Photoshop (tutorial coming soon!) and printed them at my nearest Walgreens.

The more I hang things in our foyer/hall and take photos, the more I hate that wall color. I hated it before, but it looks even worse in pictures.

How I did It

The backs of my frames had this plastic thing stapled all the way around to hold the glass in place (since it was a floating frame to begin with, and the asian art was sandwiched between two pieces of glass.)

I got a flathead screwdriver and a pair of pliers and carefully began removing the staples and plastic piece. I went very slow because I didn't want to slip and crack the glass. These particular frames were not wood so they also cracked easily. I pulled a couple of chunks out of the frame along with staples, but it was on the back, so no one will ever see it.

(Unless they're a creep and go through my house taking things down off the walls. If they do that though, I have more serious problems to worry about than a couple of cracks on the back of my picture frames.)

Then I removed the back piece of glass and set it aside for another project on another day. I recycled the asian inspired art right into the recycle bin.

Using the Young House Love tutorial, I superglued the front piece of glass to the frame, and then I secured it a little more with some masking tape, which isn't visible at all from the front.

I measured everything out so the pictures would be centered and then taped them to the glass using scotch tape. Just a little on the top and bottom edge sticking out. (Yet another tip from the YHL tutorial!)

Here's some boring wall space at the top of our stairs before...

And here is the after, as seen from my bedroom door. I'm excited to see this first thing in the morning on the way to Campbell's room!

Here's a view from the front entry, and I mostly took it because Elvis was looking at me. Remember how much I used to love Elvis?

I'm so glad I went ahead and hung these, even though we will probably paint soon. For one, my nail holes will already be there. But it also gave me a great idea for something fun I plan on doing to that wall at the top of the stairs. Stay tuned! I'll keep it a surprise for now. 

Because surprises are fun, that's why!