Empty Frame Collage - under $25

I have been on this decorating kick. It has been like my blank walls have been screaming at me to cover them up! Since I have gone back to school, we have to keep things cheap. I decided that I wouldn't let that stop me from doing cute things.

I started looking around online and found this adorable idea!

The colors work so well together and the ampersand adds so much to it! It made me want to paint the walls the same color so I could copy the same thing.

I hate painting walls though so that was a no go, but I decided the stairs were the place to put the frame collage. I thought about doing white frames because our trim is white but then I came across this picture and thought I would be a little more bold in my color selection.

I picked out FolkArt Acrylic Paint in Greenscape color.

I went to the DI (a local thrift store) and picked out a bunch of frames. I looked for frames that were interesting and had some good features. I also picked out a variety of sizes and shapes. I only spent $18 and got 16 frames. I took out the glass and backing in the frames. I made sure to remove all staples and I wiped off any dust and sanded the edges so the paint would stick better. I painted all of the frames the same color. Once they dried, I sprayed them with a clear gloss finish.

I found this cool diagram that gave me an idea of how to layout the frames. I didn't follow it exactly but it was a good starting point.

I traced all of the frames, including the insides of the frames and cut them out of leftover newspaper. I then taped them up on the wall to figure out how I wanted them arranged on the wall, without putting a ton of holes in the walls. It made it really easy to rearrange them when it didn't look quite right. I figured out the bigger frames first and filled in the empty spaces with the smaller frames after.

I then put the nails directly into the newspaper. I recommend having the frame you are about to hang, right by you. That way you can look at the back of the frame to see how thick the frame is so you know where to put the nail in relation to your newspaper frame outline.

Then you just pull the newspaper up and off the wall and you are left with the nail in the perfect place and you are ready to hang your frame up.

Here is the final result, I love it! What do you think?

Here is the view from the top of the stairs. The lack of natural sunlight in the second level of our townhouse, makes this picture look different. Oh well! OH! And I have the set of birds from Target that the picture at the beginning of the post had. I loved it and had to copy that as well!