Awhile back I made the suggestion to recover old framed paintings you might come across at the local thrift store. I was quickly crucified in the comments, but I'm sticking to my guns on the idea and today present to you something similar. I'm still defending the idea and think any use of an unloved item is a good one, even if it means there's a little DIY involved.
Over at Positively Splendid they've taken an old print that used to hang in the bedroom and turned it into a beautiful chalkboard for their kitchen. Since the frame was in excellent condition and they weren't in love with the print any longer, it seemed only logical.
Sure they could have sold the framed piece of art to someone who would have appreciated it, then taken the money and bought something similar, or made their own, but the process seems so laborious when they had all the supplies they already needed.
We love the look, the idea and the "use what you've got" statement behind it all. Check out more details on the project over at Positively Splendid. Do you like the look? Do you agree it was a good use of resources? Share your thoughts below!
Image: Positively Splendid
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Love this! I totally think a little DIY on an old piece of artwork is a great way to salvage what you already have.
I was gifted an incredible large ornately framed "work of art." I love the frame but the paint by numbers bought off the side of the road in Mexico gotta go. I love this idea of reclaiming the frame but I think I'm just going to paint over the ugly faux Impressionist Tuscan scene (because I like the texture) with something monochromatic.
No crucifixion here. Not everything needs to be saved and at least its finding a second life as opposed to land fill.
I think it's fab! And inspirational. Next weekend I'll be pilfering that abandoned "painting" in my apt. basement and giving it a second chance to shine - with better artwork... : )
I like their end result, but I really commented to say.... I'm pretty sure they have the exact some chairs I had growing up! Such a blast from the past. :)
Vintagehoney - is it s VINTAGE paint by number? Because....some of us collect those. :)
Hey folks! I LOOOOVE this DIY! It's one of my favs, and I often scour garage sales looking for lovely frames and sturdy pics to turn into something else (chalkboard, white board, jewelry storage, etc.) and I love Elsie's idea, too! You can find it here! http://abeautifulmess.typepad.com/my_weblog/2011/08/song-lyric-wall-art-diy-project.html
All's fair in art and war, I say! Love the finished product, but what I'm really ogling is the clock -- was that a ceiling medallion in a former incarnation?
I was just looking at a great frame with a not-so-great print in it I bought at a second-hand store. This is a fabulous idea!
Super cute! Also love the idea of gluing cork board to it for rotating kid art.
Love it, and why not I say! You could also paint the canvas part with magnetic paint and use it that way too.
Y'know, there is a BIG difference between a thrift store original watercolor, for example, and a mass-produced print like this one.
Salvage the first (unless it's really stupendously bad) and treat the second any way you like. Custom frames can be expensive, recycling them when they contain something with no value is smart. But "the hand of the artist" is more special than mass produced prints, so considering originals carefully before trashing is often worthwhile.
My current dilemma is that I got my partner a couple of original prints at a thrift store for his room, and he didn't like them. So I plan to salvage the frames and mats for a pair of collages for the Library where I work. Unfortunately, the mats are large enough that I am having trouble finding paper that will fit the mat to do my work on -- other than the orignial prints! Nobody really wants the original prints (large, colorful non-representational images), but they are rather nice and they are signed and numbered. But I don't want to spend another $12 or more (per sheet) on special paper I'm just giving away, on top of the cost of the frames and mats. Decisions decisions!
OMG! Thank you so much for this post. I now know what I plan to do in my kitchen.
Well done, I did a couple similarly ones quite a decade ago, using "cracked" painting method, one as a gift for old friend's daughter and one for me.
p.s.
It was painted flat black over metal sheet; a magnetized blackboard.
I let my little niece drawing with color chalks with other magnetized posted stuffs out of the way.
As an artist, I have a real problem with people painting over paintings they don't love. Just imagine if people started painting over old Picassos or Manets because they didn't appreciate them! If you have an original piece of art that you don't appreciate, much better to sell it to someone who does rather than destroy the piece itself. Then, with the money you've earned from the sale you can purchase a blackboard from your local drugstore.
@ Missbellahell lol I wish! No this is just mass produced canvas mounted in a nice frame. I'm sure its older then me but it doesnt look to be of any significance. I was saying "paint by numbers" in jest :O)
From the link:
"For the chalkboard, I repurposed this painting, which used to hang above the bed in our master bedroom. It wasn't necessarily hideous or anything..."
Au contraire: it looks like you pinched it from Hell's waiting room. "Hideous" is exactly the word I'd use.
The After is good, though. The fire engine red adds the right amount of sass.
I did this a couple years back...here it is hanging in my kitchen :D Last picture...
http://thetorpfamily.blogspot.com/2011/05/kitchen-before-after.html
Love the red frame!
@ Abstractionist: an original painting I totally agree with you, but a print I don't. Mass produced with a billion copies just like it doesn't break my heart to see it re purposed any way the owner sees fit. This is not a priceless work of art, this is not even an original work of art it is a copy of an original.
And I am a painter, I do appreciate art.
it looks awesome if someone dearly loves the piece I doubt it would be hard to find another copy.
Abstractionist:
But there are thousands - nay, millions! - of cheesy paintings cluttering flea markets and yard sales the world over. Millions of bored housewives and angsting adolescents have taken up the hobby of painting to fill their spare time. A huge percentage of them have no particular talent, and their paintings testify that they took no time to master technique, either.
I look at old art all the time, and Just because someone took paint to canvas doesn't mean that the work needs to be preserved, as if it's precious. Some work was bad when made, is bad now, and will continue to be bad. I know that I'll find very few buyers or free-takers interested in cheesy paintings by unknown artists. Hard enough to rehome decent paintings by unknown artists, or even decent paintings by listed artists, in this economy.
I've done the exact same thing! I got a large frame from a garage sale for $1. The "art" was a joke and I'm pretty sure not an original piece. I got rid of it and cut a piece of plywood to size and painted that to be the chalkboard. You can see it in the last photo here. I don't have a before photo, but just picture ugly.
mary b: yep you got that right, i have reused my own canvases from projects i never liked ( oh the dreaded still life painting!!) to create something I actually do like, the lovely oil painting hanging in my living room.. i'll probably paint over that someday as its not perfect and was another college project but for now i like it enough, canvas is not cheap. better to reuse it than toss it.
HELLO! DID YOU PAINT WITH CHALKBOARD PAINT RIGHT OVER THE PICTURE? MINE DOESN'T HAVE GLASS AND KIND OF FEELS LIKE A CANVAS PAINITING? ALSO, WHAT COLOR RED IS THAT? IT LOOKS GREAT!