DIY: Custom Matted Frames

A mini gallery wall that I made for a recent project spurred lots of comments and emails.

You all know that I love a good DIY project and I always love sharing my experience so here goes!

The lovely ladies that reside in this Chelsea apt have a very narrow and very long hallway! Filling it with a massive gallery wall, would have been very expensive and I didn’t have it in the budget.

Before:

 

After: Close up shot

 

 

So what’s a girl to do? Well this lady went searching in the basement for discarded items that never got just used with old projects and found a cool mirror made out of recycled magazines!

 

Now since the walls are so massive I needed some additional pieces to add to the wall. After a quick trip to the Dollar Tree I came home with these frames with actual glass not plastic!!!

 

 

 

Next was a trip to JoAnn’s to pick up some fabric and mats with a 5 x 7 opening.  You will also need spray adhesive and a fabric rotary cutter. I already had those items at home.

 

Now to get a more custom and add some glam to my dollar store frames I used the fabric  to wrap around the mats. It’s super simple and really adds something special to the picture.

 

First step is to cut a piece a piece of fabric that extends about half an inch past the mat so that you have fabric to fold over. I used tacky spray, which requires you to spray the piece first and let it sit for a couple of seconds before adhering fabric.

 

Then you can start folding the fabric along the edges and adhering it to the mats.

 

Make sure you fold a nice corner!

Once that is complete the next step is to work on the inside of the mat. Again make sure you leave a bit of extra fabric so that you something to fold over the mat.

This is what it will look like after you cut all sides:

Now you need to make an additional cut to ensure that the corners will fold properly.

 

* Try and get as close to the mat as you can without cutting into the mat!

Once that is done you are able to start attaching the fabric to the mat. Because you spray the majority of the mat in the first step it will mostly likely just stick right away! If it doesn’t then simply spray adhesive again and let it sit for a couple of seconds before applying fabric.

Here is the mat all complete:

Here is a close up of the frame with a picture:

 

Since the mirror had many different colors I decided to go more neutral with the pictures and get them printed in black and white. They add a whole other dimension to the frame and my clients loved it!

 

I know a lot of designers/decorators don’t like putting personal pictures in a space, but this is a clients home and not a designer showcase so I think personal photos in small doses are a nice touch to a room!

 

This DIY project can be done with any size mat and your choice of fabric! If you have a designer fabric you love, but don’t have the money to use it for window treatments or upholstery then using them for a mat would still incorporate the fabric you like into the room on a budget!

 

You can use personal photos or if you are on budget go onto Vintage Printable and print out some artwork for free! The possibilities are endless!