The Frame

I've been wanting a big, ornate frame in my bedroom for a long time. I don't want anything in it, I just want a frame. I know exactly what I want, and can even picture it in my mind; but I'm not having much luck finding it.

Actually, I did find it. My sister took me to a fantastic nursery/garden decor store and set me free to roam. After wandering around outside and oohing and ahhing forever, I went inside to their little checkout store. That's when I saw it.

Queue the music.

It was THE frame. Solid wood, carved into ornate filigree and curls. It was gorgeous, and it was the one... The one I've been coveting for months and months. Sure, it had a mirror inside of it; but that's easy enough to remove. I called my sister and her boys over and announced that I Must Have This Frame!

The price on this particular frame was - Honest to God - $999.00.

Who spends that kind of money on home decor?!? Obviously, I'm still coveting it; and not the proud owner. (Because - seriously - if I was the owner of a $1K piece of art like that, ya'll'd never hear the end of it.)

Moving on.

Last week, I thought I'd found the next best thing. I found a frame that was 60% off. It wasn't ideal, but it was Big! and Ornate! And grey with yellow undertones (kind of like nickle) So, I bought this frame - which still came in at a cool $80 - and loaded it into my car.

Except, my hands came away awfully dirty when I pulled back from loading it into the car. That's when I realized it was covered in dust. So much dust, in fact, that it was actually a Gold frame, and not grey or nickle. Even worse, the ornateness of it was made of plastic; which means that I can't paint it.

Back it went.

But the thought of painting the unpaintable frame gave me an idea. What if I made the frame from trim at the home store? Since I'm not going to put anything in it, I can attach it right to the walls. All I have to do is miter the corners together, and that should be easy enough.

I looked at the Mecca (AKA Home Depot) but they didn't have anything ornate enough, since Shaker is all the rage around here. I needed something more... out of style. So, I hit another home store that caters to the farmers around here and I hit the jackpot. Not only did they have what I was looking for, it was on clearance.

$15 per piece. Two pieces. Throw in some paint....
Methinks that's a whole lot less than where I started.