Upcycled: Plastic Frame To Cork Board

Now that Halloween is over, we are back to our normal lives, and both Greg and I are working on our ‘To Do’ lists. The first thing in Greg’s list was to order our son’s school picture, and I had to arrange the picture frame for it. Although the assignment distribution doesn’t seem to be fair with these initial tasks, trust me his list is always longer than mine. And guess who is preparing his ‘To Do’ lists?…

A week ago I again paid a visit to the Second Chance Shop, aka Mom’s shop. I call it Mom’s shop because Mom has been voluntarily working there for 37 years now. Quite a time to be a volunteer, isn’t it? But she loves every minute of it.

During that visit I found 2 picture frames for half price, as they had the seasonal sales on for Halloween. I love Mom’s shop! Since it is a thrift store, not only are their normal prices already good, but they also have seasonal sales which range between 25% and 75% off. So with the sales on I bought these frames for 3 dollars in total.

Although my preference is always for wooden frames, these were hard plastic. But their sizes were perfect for what I had in mind, and a little bit of paint could easily cure that cheesy plastic look. So as soon as we got home I started working on the first frame.

My plan was to have 2 different color layers showing when distressed. First, I put one coat of Deco Art Americana Chalky Finish Paint in Carbon color, which is a nice black color. Then I put two coats of my homemade chalk type paint in Sherwin Williams Birchwood color. After I finished painting I put aside to dry for 20-25 minutes. The paint actually dries quicker than that, but I was busy painting the second frame in the mean while. Sorry that I forgot to take the pictures of painting and the distressing part, but I will try to explain it to best of my ability…

One hint with distressing plastic frames is that you don’t really want to use sandpaper, because if you do, there is a chance that the original paint would come off during sanding, and you would be left with that ugly plastic surface showing at the distressed areas. So what I do is, once the paint dries, I grab an old and worn out towel and dampen it. Then I start rubbing the damp rag on the frame with some pressure. I rub only those areas where I want to distress it. This way, not only do you achieve an authentic look with your distressing, but also there is no chance of sanding your painted piece down to ugly plastic.

See what I mean? Now I have 2 layers of color showing here and there: black and the original silverish color. Ok, here is a better close up picture if you couldn’t see it up there.

With frame redo projects, I generally use Deco Art Americana Decor Creme Wax as the final finish coat, because it is softer than any other wax I have in hand. It is more on the fluid side; therefore it allows me to apply it with a sponge, which helps getting in those small crannies on the frames.

Once I finish waxing, I buff the frame with a soft cotton rag to give it a little shine. Of course not too much, as I don’t want to lose the matte look which chalk type paint creates…

Now that the first frame was ready to put a picture in, I wanted to modify it in a way to ease my job every time I wanted to change the picture. So I decided to place a cork layer in it. This way I could use it also as a small corkboard.

I had some left over cork sheets which I bought at Joann’s for another project, so I cut one of them to fit the frame’s opening and just placed it in the opening.

For the push pins, I used thumb tacks and some small embellishments which I bought from Michaels a while ago. I simply glued the embellishments in the thumb tacks with Gorilla Super Glue. I also used hot glue with some… so you can chose whichever is easier for you.

Now I have a picture frame which takes me a second to change the picture on it, and a small corkboard for daily notes if I want to use it that way.

I can’t wait to receive our son’s school picture this year. It will look really great in this frame!

Don’t you also find it amazing how a little bit of TLC can bring the greatness out in everything?

If you are wondering about the second frame click here to see how I changed that one.

Handan, xo