Chalk Painting Old Vintage Frames White & Creating a Neutral Gallery Wall
Vintage picture frames come in all sizes, colors, and shapes, but to create a refreshing spring look I decided to find a stack of pretty frames and paint them all white with chalk paint! I found all the picture frames from thrift stores, and because they are vintage they are usually gold. I do love a gold frame display, but especially for Spring I wanted a lighter and brighter look. Here is how easy it is to chalk paint old picture frames for a fresh new farmhouse look that you can create at home with this easy DIY project.
To begin, find yourself a stack of old vintage frames in varying sizes. I went with all rectangles here, but ovals are also very cute. The more ornate the frame, the better it will look! Some of the frames I found were actually already varying shades of white, but they did not look nice when put together so I decided to paint them all the same color of chalk paint. I love Chalked in Linen chalk paint – it is a good price, paints easily, is a true white and dries nicely. I also use this set of chalk paint brushes for all my projects. Below are the frames I collected and I just love how ornate these frames are!
Cover your workspace, open your chalk paint, stir/mix well, and you are ready to paint your frames.
Use thin coats. You need to do a base coat, wait for it to dry about 20 minutes or so, and then do a second layer. You will have nice, even coverage if you paint in thin coats.
The small, pointed chalk brush is amazing for painting old vintage frames. It gets into all those little details – look how well it covered this frame!
You can see in the frame below that the new white is very different from the original color. All the frames will match when you are finished!
When you are finished, let them dry for about 20 minutes then add a second coat. Your frames should look like this when they have both coats on.
It takes just about an hour to complete 5 frames. When you finish chalk painting all your old vintage frames, you will have a set of beautiful white farmhouse shabby chic frames to decorate with!
I like to display a mixture of black and white art prints (typically that I find thrifting) in varying sizes and shapes of frames. Add some chippy accent pieces like corbels or toss in some potted greens in white pitchers and you have a beautiful shabby shelf display!
Decorating above our TV has always been a challenge for me, especially because the TV in against a small wall in the livingroom and it is hard to add large furniture to the area to hide it. These DIY chalk painted picture frames are the perfect solution! Light and airy and full of farmhouse charm, they definitely perk up the TV area and make it look much better!
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20 Comments
HEATHER HOSKINS
Gorgeous! Thanks for the ideas!
Danielle
I love the look of chalk paint! This is such a beautiful look! Thank you for sharing how easy it is!!
Danielle
I love the look of these so much! I really think that I am going to try this for my own decorative pieces at home.
Charity Ancik
I love this!!!!! If I may ask, what is your wall color?
Alyssa Dawson
Yes please! This is so cute. I’ve been looking for an easy way to paint some of my frames. This is so perfect!
Catherine Santiago Jose
First of all, awesome idea and nice creativity of making these frames such a beauty in the eyes. I will definitely do this on our old frames at home. Thank you for sharing this to us.
Clare Minall
I just love how creative you are repainting the old frames. It was such a brilliant idea to do.
Alexandra Cook
Such a great idea. We have a lot of old frames here. It was such a great thing to do to make it even more beautiful.
Kathleen Cregg
This is so easy and the frames come out so pretty! I must try this! Thanks for sharing!
Lyosha
looks beautiful and very stylish! I would totally made it too if it fit my house. Very nice styling, charmed!
Heather Barber McMechan
I love the way these frames turned out. This would be a fun project for the spring.
Christa
I love this project so much! It lt’s gorgeous and actually do-able. I love being able to upcycke, too.
Maureen
I find painting or any DIY project so therapeutic. I painted some vintage frames I got from a thrift store last year and attached to a coffee table, it was the best conversation starter.
Prajakta
Loved the way you painted the frames..looks so elegant and beautiful
Ashley - Forking Up
This is such a cool idea, and way better than just buying them pre-made. Keeping my eye on garage sales now!
Brie
This is great for a rustic themed home. I love how they turned out, nice job.
Melissa M Sanchez
The frames are stunning in and of themselves, but the chalk paint just bring them up a notch! I love the finished look! so pretty!
Chad
omg the frames turned out to be amazing! So beautiful! Good job painting them.
Michael
Nice color. It has a touch of classic white texture. Making things somewhat new but artsy. Great choice.
Linda Lee
Great idea, it looks awesome. I have some dark wood frames and will try the same technique – more coats with light brushing. Hopefully the effect will be the same or similar with the appropriate brushes. Thanks again.