The Purple Frames

On a blog I posted July 10 I told you about a solution for Sweet Amanda's kitchen, and a fix for her purple addiction. Sometimes Hoarding Pays Off- Empty Frame Art
 The Country Wedding took up my free time for a while so I put this project on hold.

When Sweet Amanda told me that she had some paint left from her last apartment painting adventure before the wedding I was excited.  I had not actually seen her most recent apartment.  It was an efficiency that seemed to be pretty tiny.  She let me know that she did paint the kitchen like I thought she did but since the whole apartment was one room, she actually painted the whole thing this color. Baby Boy mumbled something about Barney Purple but I never looked at the color until this past weekend.  Here is what I pulled out of the bag:

 Wow- I wasn't even close with this color!  I loved the vivid fuchsia!  Her kitchen in Huntsville before was a darker purple.  I bought spray paint for the more ornate frames I found out on my shopping and scavenging trips based on the color of her Huntsville kitchen.  This is what I bought:

It is a dark purple- very similar to concord grape jelly.  It is 30 minutes one way into Walmart or Home Depot on a busy weekend so I tried to think of a way to make these two purples play nice.  I decided to mix some of the bright purple with both white and black to give me four shades of purple on the frames.  My thinking was that it would look intentional. 

When you mix colors it is important that you make yourself a road map in case you ever need more of the stuff.  I bought a set of measuring spoons and cups at Dollar Tree several years ago that live out in the Garagemahal just for my crafting.  I mixed the latex paint with some acrylic craft paints I had in my art bag.

 I measured out a cup of purple into a Cool Whip container.

 To a tablespoon of black craft paint.

The color really changed to a more muted almost gray purple.

I put the frames out on the drop cloth based on a photo I took earlier.



Then I randomly started pulling out frames and took off painting.  I mixed one cup of purple with two tablespoons of white to make a lighter shade of purple too.
I sprayed the funkiest of frames the dark purple.  I divided the frames into groups and then got them all painted.  Frames are a pain in the neck to paint at any time but painting them so that you can see the wall behind them really is gross.  I had to hold the frames to get the inside done and you can see the result on my finger.

 I loved the grape sconce.  It had to go in this collage of purple frames.  Someone ( Hubby) calls them ugly!

FYI- You can get paint off your skin with baby oil.  No harsh chemicals and no drying or cracking.  It takes a little more rubbing but well worth it.

The frames took several coats to look good.  All the frames were either in a pile of frames I did not have a use for or were super cheap at resale shops.  I paid $1.50 for the most expensive frame.  During the process Sweet Amanda and I decided that her teapots needed to be framed in the purple wonderland.  Hubby cut out small pieces of old wood that were primed and painted white.

 We bought brackets and painted them white to attach the blocks to the wall so that they almost disappear.  We want the emphasis on the frames and teapots.

I played with several configurations.

And then I added in a few pieces I collected at Christmas in July.  The thing I like most about this project is that a plastic oval frame that once held a duck with "Welcome Friends" on it gets the same treatment as a once very expensive gold frame.  I think we all look better with a little coat of paint on us too.

I get to see Baby Boy  and Sweet Amanda tonight for the first time since the wedding and will be bringing the frames.  I am not sure if we are going to tackle the installation or leave that to another day.  I will post them when they are all on the wall.