the little cottage on the pond...: Making a picture frame...

Yesterday was cold and rainy. Our weather this winter has been much colder than normal, and temps are expected to drop back into the 30's, so the succulents had to be brought inside...

Since we were pretty much home all day and it was too cold to paint out in the workshop, we decided to build and paint a frame for a piece of art my dad had given me. He had the piece drawn by an artist on the street the last time he was in China. It is a lovely piece and the colours were perfect to use in Sara's "beachy lounge room". I didn't want the picture to look too formal, so I knew I would be giving it a super shabby treatment. I had been given a few samples of paint from Country Chic Paint, and I thought that a combination of Cherry Blossom and Cheesecake would look lovely on a frame...

Travis bought two pine 1 x 3 x 8 pieces, and two 1 x 2 x 8 pieces.

Then he glued and nailed the 1 x 2's to the 1 x 3's to add some thickness and an inset for the glass inside the frame:

Then he ran it through the saw on the flush side just to make sure they were smooth and even, and clean up the edge...

Next, he cut 45 degree angles for the lengths of each side. He uses a chop saw for this...

After the angles were cut, he glued the edges and nailed them together. He tells me the trick with glue is to apply it and then pat it down. This prevents the glue from running...

use a 90 degree cut to place in the corners and steady your frame while nailing

Pooky and sanding follows to finish the corners...

Now it's time to paint! I started off with a coat of Cherry Blossom as my base...

After the base coat dried, I took a candle and smeared some places on the frame where I wanted the next coat of paint to meet a resist, or not stick to the frame. You can use vaseline for this step as well.

Then I applied a second coat using Country Chic Paint in Cheesecake. You can see here where the paint looks a little grainy from the wax I used on the base coat.

Once that was dry it was time to hit it with the sander. I wanted a severely distressed look for this frame, so I used my hand sander with a 220 grit paper. I hit the corners a little harder which caused some spots to show through to the wood. That was fine since I knew I was going to be going back over it with a few waxes. You can see here where the paint resisted taking to the pink...

Then I used some of the Country Chic clear wax and gold wax to add a little sparkle to the frame. Once the wax was dry I gave it a good buffing with a soft cloth until it was butter smooth...

I love how the gold wax looks on the raw wood!

Travis and I added the glass, placed the paper on top and backed it with a piece of quarter inch plywood, and secured it with inch and a quarter finishing nails.