Distressed - Life and DIY

I have had a lot of time off from work, which has been VERY welcome as I often spend months between cities and hotels. I recently repainted my room. The change in colour unleashed a streak of transromation both in my life and in my decor. Simplify. My room has gone from a modpodge of unkempt 'stuff' sheltered by orange/yellow walls to simple, soothing light purple and greyish white and a more monochromatic scheme of decor. Blacks, whites, small specs of coloured decor and tidiness. Everything has a place, if it doesn't, it's in a box under my bed! Truth be told, changing my environment has helped me shift my life as well. Simplify....no facebook!!!!! It's great! I have so much more time to putz around with DIY projects and actually see just how creative I can be!

My Frame Project Tutorial...

I really wanted to keep this frame, but the brown didn't really go with the theme of the room. Enter Pinterest and Google :) I am pretty sure the site I used the most was Decorating Bug. I will tell you what I did anyways.

Materials:

- item to distress

- two colours of paint (or just one depending on the look you want)

- paint brush

- sand paper (probably not the heavy duty stuff though)- no sand paper? try steel wool or pumice stone...something rough

I tend to try and use materials and things that are already around my house instead of going out and buying new stuff. Be resourceful. You might find you are more creative than you thought. ;)

PS. Avocados were on sale for 77cents this week.
(Don't mind my 'table protection'. My workspace is currently my mom's kitchen table!)

This is the frame pre-distress.

I decided to sand it down a bit prior to any painting. I wanted some of the wood to show through on the inside edges so I had to sand through that plastic-y looking coat on it.

I used white craft paint from the dollar store as my under colour. I wanted the white to be UNDER the black because I wanted the dominant colour to be dark. If you put on a reasonable first coat you don't really need a second. You be the judge. There really isn't any way to mess this up.

 I used my hair dryer to help along the drying process. Note: it works well with craft paint, not so much with cupboard paint.

Once the white was dry I put on two coats of leftover black cupboard paint from one of my mom's projects. Again, putting on a solid first coat, you may not need a second. I am impatient and somewhat sloppy, so a 'good first coat' actually rarely happens for me.

Then I busted out the sand paper and went at it. I also took a screw and made a couple of scratches and banged the corners a little. Its a great way to get out a little frustration too! lol Like I said, you can't really mess this whole distressing thing up, go for it.

The frame fully distressed to my liking.

 

Voila!

 

The white matting you see below is straw and is the original matting. It

 used to be straw coloured, but I put a coat of my white craft paint on it to bring in the right colour scheme. I have a few pops of yellow in my room and thought this yellow accented photo I had taken years ago of the birch in our backyard in fall would be perfect. And it was!

I am extremely happy with how it turned out and how it looks on my photo shelf! It feels SO good to actually have pictures up, in an organized manner and that add to the serenity of my experience in my room.

 

The photo collage beneath the photo shelf is individual 5x5 photos. Some from my instagram, some edited in the Fotor application on my computer and put in an old frame I had hiding under my bed.

Putting photos together hasn't been easy. I know I am not the only one who thinks that, especially in the digital age when we actually have to go out and PRINT them! Keep with it. Would love to hear what photo feats you've undertaken and been happy with!