Five Dollar Decor: Framed Art

One of the things that I find makes a home feel most finished is hanging framed artwork on the walls. I don't even care what's in the frames, really--there's just something about one or two or twenty(!) frames, neatly hung, that says a place is lived in by someone who cares about their surroundings.

Thing is, framed artwork--if you just buy it--is really expensive, especially when you get into bigger pieces.

So, what you should do instead is make it!

Project: Frame It!

Yesterday, while Mr. Scrimp was getting very involved with a new video game, I decided to do a little on-the-fly craft project. Back in October, we'd picked up four $5 black frames at Wal-Mart, hoping they would fit some prints we had on hand. Sadly, they didn't, and I never got around to returning them, so they just sat in a bag in our spare room for months.

Until yesterday!

Artful Framing

This is going to have to be a short blog entry this morning. Our rent check is due, which means I spent my morning (after dropping Mr. Scrimp off at work, because my car is in the shop), rushing around in a frenzy of tidying and last-minute cleaning to get our kitchen presentable before I leave for work, since the landlord will be letting himself in to collect the rent check off our fridge later today.

If I learned one thing from years of art classes, it's that anything looks better if you put it in a frame. There's something about framing that speaks of intention, forethought, and order. I'm sure it's got something to do with some deep psychological need for boundaries and organization and blah blah blah, but I'm happy to just stop with "I like how it looks."

I have six frames sitting in a bag in our all-purpose/storage/guest room that we picked up at Wal-Mart months ago, incredibly cheap. When I get home from work, I'm going to start framing things. What things? Ehh, who cares? I have plenty of things that would look nicer in a frame. I'll pick some.

For what I think might be the best example of how anything looks better in a frame, check out this five-minute project by The Nester. Also, check out this one. I was already planning to write about framing things, but she inspired me to get it done sooner.

I'll take some pictures tonight or tomorrow, to show you the results of Framing Mania 2010!