Painting a frame

When I bought the frames for my produce paintings, I thought the black would work with the wrought iron/oil rubbed bronze look of the dining room chandelier. I was very wrong.

Because I have used gold framed artwork and the large gold framed mirror, the thick black frames were way too heavy and intrusive to the eye.  I lived with them for a while, hating them every time I walked by the dining room.  Should I buy new frames trimmed in gold to bring in all the metallic elements? Should I spray paint them the same gold as all the other frames in the room?

I decided it went against everything I do as a redesigner if I bought new frames when I had two perfectly changable frames right in front of me. And painting them the same gold as the other frames was resourceful but also a little boring and expected.

Out of the blue, I thought of the frame in my parents house that holds one of my grandmother’s (beautiful) paintings. It is an antique and is different from anything I’ve seen in stores. The raised edges are metallic gold but the depression between them is a beautiful shade of green.  Gold and green. How much more ‘Katie’ can you get?

So I painted the center, “depressed” section of the black frames with a mixture of a sage green, a touch of light gold and taupe. I used a sponge brush and kept the colors mottled to show the age/fading I desired.  The inner and outer raised edges of my frames were painted with a mixture of light gold, bronze and taupe to achieve a realistically antiqued finish.  When rack frame was done, I took it outside and gave it three coats of satin finish protective spray. 

Now, the frames are beautiful in their own right, and make the paitings look better and brighter as well. I am MUCH happier when I am in the dining room and am glad I decided to remake the frames rather than spend more money on new frames and let the black ones accumulate dust and take up space in the basement. 

I love the results.