12 April Flower Power: Part 3

Once upon a time in early April, I snagged a bouquet of flower freshness!   They sure did their job keeping a smile on my face, as I found ways to spread them all over the homestead!

And then I decided to have a little more fun with them and zoom in on their beauty with my camera lens.

And I also made a little promise to share with you my next plans for the pics.  So that's why I am here today!

One of the snapshots really tripped my trigger, I totally fell head over heals for the intimate view of the pedals and the creamy soft colors.

It was time to give this print a permanent place in my heart living room, so I could enjoy it's beauty year round.

So, I ordered a poster sized print and before I knew it, it's awesomeness was sitting in front of me, sans a frame to live in.  And I really didn't have a plan when I ordered the print, I just knew it would be mine, oh yes, it would be mine....

With my poster in hand, I started digging through our storage room for a new home for the photo.  Lucky for me, I save garage sale worthy items until I have enough in my possession to actually hold a garage sale.  This is also handy when I get the itch for a DIY project, I have my own little haven to search through, for options to re-invent.... and lucky me, I found an old piece of framed artwork that had been sitting useless for about five years.  Out went the dated art, and into the garage went the frame.  

I started out by laying the frame on some cardboard

and grabbing a can of spray primer.

 

And then I tried to spray paint the frame yellow, because I definitely had spring on the brain.

But once I placed the photo inside, my gut told me right away it wasn't going to work, it almost had a cheesy feel.

So I painted the frame the same creamy white {Behr's Navajo White} that I have on my kitchen cabinets and on a mirror that I also have hanging in our living room.  Much better!

Until we got it hung up on the wall!  Better frame color, not better artwork.  From a distance, it looked rather dwarfed.

Time to make some more modifications.  That's what happens when you have absolutely ZERO plan and are starting from scratch.  So, I found yet another frame {back in my fantabulous garage sale pile} and followed the exact same steps of priming and painting, however, the size of the new frame was much larger than the first.  And actually I had originally bypassed it because I thought it was TOO big for the print I had ordered. 

Once the newer larger frame was made to match, I snagged a leftover quart of chocolate brown paint {from another home project}, and painted the backside of the frame backing.  Once both were complete, it looked as such:

Wondering where I am going with all this?  It's actually the new frame and mat for the previous frame and poster.  We just measured:

And marked {with the help of one of our little P's of course!}:

And then used some "Power Grab" glue {the same stuff we used on our spice cabinet project}, to line the back of frame numero uno:

We also removed the rubber stopper and then stuck it to the front of the new brown mat and cream frame.  And then after waiting for a full 24 hours for the glue to set, we hung up the updated artwork!

It was exactly the right size now, plus the new matting made the picture pop oh so much more!!  And it nicely flanked the mirror on the opposite side of the window:

For a better idea of the layout {with awful lighting for photographs - sorry!}, here is a shot of the whole wall:

Such a fan of the final product!  It really turned out nice for just the initial cost of the poster print {$17}, and then not spending another dime after that point!

So that's how my picture went from super

to superb!

So there you have it!  A once upon a time filled with all sorts of trials and errors, ending happily ever after!  

I am totally a HUGE fan of using personal photographs all over the homestead for art.  In fact, this isn't my first time and definitely won't be my last!  It gives such a more personalized feeling to your home that you can't easily find anywhere else!