Thrift store DIY project frame

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Giving a fresh life to a thrift store DIY project frame. Did you have an unseen playmate? My unseen playmate didn’t wear a yellow dress…

thrift store diy project frame

and shouldn’t be in a yellow frame.

thrift store diy project frame before

This is the help to refresh those thrift store frames. Plus, a chance to remember those unseen childhood friends. Did you have one? Did your dad make an extra grilled cheese sandwich for your unseen playmate too?

It’s proper that I found this frame in a thrift store in my hometown. My unseen playmate lived in the same hometown. I paid a whopping 15 cents for the frame. The frame caught I eye but the story is what sold me.

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What’s wrong with yellow?

Our first five years in our home every wall was yellow. Every wall ceiling, closet, and even the garage. I’m done with yellow, even on a frame.

thrift store diy project frame the unseen playmate

Here are the steps to refresh thrift store frames

  • Remove the backing, print, and glass.
  • Wash the glass.  In my case, the glass was actually plexiglass. So I cut an 8 by 10 piece from glass from a large broken frame.
  • Clean the glass.  I like to use dish soap and a sponge.  The dry with a lint-free tea towel.
  • Then sand with 220 grit to remove any shine.  Clean the sanding dust from the frame.  Let dry.
  • Paint.  I used chalk-based paint, so I didn’t do step 4.  Then, I chose to use a damp paper towel to distress the paint with a light touch.  Can’t have too much yellow showing through!
  • Reinsert the glass in the frame.
  • Reinsert or add your new printable.  Tip for miscue cutting off the page or printable. Use double stick tape to hold the print in the center of the backing.  I had to do this with my unseen playmate.
  • Then insert the backing
  • Use glazing push pins to hold everything in place.
  • Add a sawtooth hanger or picture hanging wire if needed. I used the wire that was on the frame.  It’s handy to have a stocked picture hanging kit around the house if you do several thrift store frames.

thrift store diy project frame closeup

I Googled “The unseen playmate” and learned Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 – 1894) was the author.  He wrote a collection of verses published in 1885 called, “A Child’s Garden of Verses.”

thrift store diy project frame tips

I still have an unseen playmate.

One thing that popular in the blogging world is to learn to write to your reader.  Understand who your readers are.  Learn the average age and where most readers live.  Type of work, number of children, and kind of home they live in.  Hobbies favorite tv shows.  They suggest giving our avatar a name.  Nancy is the most popular name of my readers.

So basically, an unseen playmate.

She never wears a yellow dress.

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