Beadboard Frames Tutorial

I get these visions of what I want, but can't afford. 

 This time I had a vison of 6 square frames

 (one for each of my children)

hanging from a wrought iron bar wrapped in red garland. 

 So I started searching. 

 But the cheapest I could find square frames was for $7.  

That's $42 for 6.

 Plus those you had to pay extra for the glass and paint them yourself. 

 I really liked the idea of them being made out of beadboard.  

Well, we had scraps of beadboard panneling left over from our kitchen island project and the mud room. 

 I started thinking I could just make them myself. 

 My Hubby said, 

"No, we will never be able to get the center cut out straight." 

 But I keep thinking,

 I can do this. 

 So I measured my iron bar to determine how big I could make my frames to fit under the bar.

  I got this bar free from my great neighbor Shelly! 

They could be 12" squares, but to be able to make 6 from my scraps they ended up being 11 3/4". 

  I started by cutting out six squares from the panneling on the table saw.  

Then I cut out my opening, which was about 7".  

I had to drill holes in the corners and used a jig saw to cut from hole to hole.  

Yes, my husband was right, it looked terrible. 

 But I kept plugging on.

To get them to look chunky, I cut strips of left over 3/4" MDF. 

 Which I glued around all the edges. 

 I need some sort of trim to cover my ugly openings. 

 I ended up cutting more of the beadboard into small strips.

Then I mittered the corners and glued them over the ugliness. 

Framed the opening wonderfully.

Next I spray painted them.  

First I started to paint them black, but changed my mind. 

 I tried cream, yes! 

 This was the first thing I had to purchase. 

 Two cans about $6.  

(I could have used one if I didn't have to cover three frames I had already painted black.)

Then I used a dark chocolate glaze and wiped most of it off.

This is the finished frame, I love it!

Next

 I needed glass.  

Again my neighbor Shelly had a large piece of broken glass which she gave me. 

I took it to Lowes to have them cut it.  

Wrong!  

They will not cut your glass, only glass purchased at Lowes.  

Although the manager showed me how to use a glass cutter so I bought that for just over $3. 

It was pretty easy. 

 Just measure and score. 

 Only score it once. 

 Don't run the cuter back and forth.

Then line the scored line up with the edge of the counter and snap it off.  

It worked. 

I took pictures of my kids and printed them out at home and mounted them in to frames. 

Then time to mount everything on the wall.

  The hardware that came with the rod stuck to far out from the wall, so I found alterative brackets. 

 I think they were from the plumbing department at Lowes.  

Only problem was they were silver. 

 I painted them with brown and black craft paint. 

 It was a close match to the bar.

Here is the finished product on the wall. 

 I love it.  

I love the texture, color, and style. 

 But most of all I love that I actually made them. 

 Total cost $12.74 

 ($6 paint, $3 glass cutter, $1.24 mounting brackets, $2.50 ribbon.)

I had bought this red garland awhile ago at DI for $1. 

 So make that total $13.74. 

 So what do ya think leave a commet!