The (Never Ending) Frames

As I mentioned in my tour of the hallway, we plan to cover one of the walls in the hallway with frames.  I've been gathering frames for this project since I saw it done over on YHL.  After Madison and I scored these three lovelies on her first thrift store expedition, I decided I finally had enough frames to give it the old college try.

 First, I pulled all the other frames out from storage (under the guest bed/laundry center/mirror stand) for a good dusting.  And they needed it!

 I think I might need to move the bed and get to cleaning.  Ick.

 After they were clean and dry, I brought them to the back yard for (what I thought would be) a few quick coats of spray paint.

 By the way, the box I used for this was (obviously) from Madison's travel system, which I L-O-V-E.  Go get yourself one.  Or do like we did, and register for one.  You might just get lucky!  (Thanks, Grandma, Aunt Becky, and Aunt Christie!)

Since a lot of the frames/decorative iron thingy were metal, I opted to start with spray primer.  That first coat gave almost no coverage, but I'm hoping it will give the paint that extra stickagization.  Which is, regardless of what my spell check is telling me, totally a word.

 After a few coats of spray paint, I noticed that the corners on a lot of my cheaper frames were noticeably imperfect.  Which is my mild way of saying "totally jacked up".  So I took the caulk to 'em, gave them one more coat of spray paint, and called it a day two-and-a-half weeks.  I kind of got distracted by a little thing called life (aka Madison) between coats.

 I left the frames outside to cure.  Then I forgot about them, until a miracle happened.  It started sprinkling!  See, Texas is going through a little (see what I did there?)bit of a drought right now.  When I saw the strange stuff falling from the sky, I was so surprised and excited that it took a few minutes for me to remember that my frames were in the backyard getting the full benefit of the miracle. 

I managed to save them before any major damage was done, but a few of the cardboard backs warped a little as they dried.

 No big deal, I just replaced them with cardboard from boxes that we have lying around.  I think I'm a mini-hoarder, but only with bags and boxes.  I have no problem getting rid of things that have actual and sentimental value (for instance: we sold Madison's bassinet a few weeks ago), but on trash day, I just can't bring myself to haul the boxes to the curb.  Instead, I break them down and store them in the garage.

Pat's not a huge fan of holding onto the "trash", so I'd like to take this opportunity to rub in his face point out that for this one project we used three of my boxes.  Bam.

 I still haven't finished the project, which means that right now the hallway, along with the rest of the house/yard/garage, looks worse than before I started this craziness.  So here's how the project looks right now:

I bet you'll never guess what this has to do with the project!

Our friend John came over to run with Patrick yesterday.  When he stepped in the hallway, he asked whose murder we were planning. 

Still not perfect...

I'll probably never stop adding more frames.  I picked this one up Saturday.

 

 What are you working on right now?  Is the space beneath your beds completely disgusting also, or should I have left that little tidbit out?  Do you hoard anything?  Do your projects ever always take longer than you expect?  Is "Bam" a frequent flyer in disagreements with your spouse?

-Kelli