A DIY Frame

Hi everyone, hope your weekend went well.  I have been quite busy doing absolutely nothing with the kids, and we are loving it!  Lot's of pajama days, pool lounging, late rising, and stuff like that going on in this house.  I do try to squeeze in some projects here and there, but most of them require being outside, and I have to get up pretty early to start working on them because it gets so hot outside after 10am, or we get crazy rain storms with lighting and hail...ah...the glorious weather in north Texas!

A few months ago we had a family photo shoot in a field of bluebonnets, I always wanted outdoors pictures taken, and the bluebonnets being in full swing, worked out just perfect. It had rained a few days before, so there was plenty of ant hills to go around, so even though we were smiling in the pictures, as soon as the camera stopped, we were scrambling to move, and swap them off...ouch!!  I think next year, we will wear really high boots.

After finally receiving the pictures, I needed to decide on framing the main one of us we got.  Because this is not a canvas, it's more of a wrap type of picture, I was afraid a regular frame, since it needs to be nailed in, might damage the portrait.  I then spotted this beauty here, and as soon as I saw it, I knew this is what I needed.

We have some leftover fence slats that the previous owners left behind, on our side of the house, they have been sitting there for all these months now, and I always knew that I would want to use them in something, well, that something turned out to be the frame:

I heart this saw ;)

I used screws instead of nails, for extra support.

I knew the final product would be sanded, but I did not want the red to come thru, so I spayed painted it black, before I used Annie Sloan in Old white as the main color:

I then slightly sanded it, and applied a polyurethane coating.  I did this because there was a lot of little ants when I first got the wood off the side of the house, and even though I washed the frame before I painted it, I just wanted to make sure I would not have little critters crawling everywhere.

And here is the final product, hanging above our mantel:

This was my only purchase for this spot, all the other accessories I already had on hand.

Loving the details left by the screws.

I ended up buying a picture hanging kit, for $5, and that was pretty much the whole total for this project, unless you count the black thing above the picture, which I got from Hobby Lobby at 50% off, $15 total.  Not so bad.  

I am so happy with how this turned out, I do miss my wreath that I had there before, but I may just find it a new spot in the house, would hate to just put it in storage.  I am also happy that we were able to get a family picture taken of us at this stage, I don't think I can convince my husband to do it again any time soon.

So, how about you, when was the last time you took a family picture?  And where do you have it in your house?  Is my husband the only man who hates taking family pictures?  

Hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Kristel

Linking to: Skip To My Lou, DIY Showoff, Between naps on the Porch, Sweet Little Gals, Home Stories A to Z, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, The Lettered Cottage, Tip Junkie, The Farmhouse Porch, Today's Creative Blog, Hope Studios, Domestically Speaking, Gingersnap Crafts, Savvy Southern Style, Restore Interiors, We are that Family, Family Home and Life, No Minimalist Here, House of Hepworths, The Shabby Creek Cottage, At the Picket Fence, Stuff and Nonsense, Redoux, Chic on a Shoestring Decorating, The Shabby Nest, Five Days Five Ways, Finding Fabulous, Funky Junk Interiors, Tatertots and Jello,