Back in December, I bought a slew of frames from IKEA with the intent of filling the wall behind our sofa with an awesome frame collage. I was so determined.

So determined, in fact, that I ended up hanging them before we even got the new couch.

I played with a few layouts. Eventually, I went with a more organic, sprawling look instead of a geometric layout. I figured it would be a good contrasty combination – modern frames hung with irregularity.

So up they went. Yep, the frame collage was pictured here when we assembled our couch. (<— s#!t 20-somethings say – “we assembled our couch)

And there the frames hung as the room evolved around them. Ho hum. My goal was to collect things along the way to fill the frames, but it just never happened. I couple of postcards from vacations and a picture of us – but the frame filling process was slow. Like, if a turtle and a sloth mated. A slurtle. A turtoth. Super slow.

For a brief moment, I considered just diving in to Etsy and buying a bunch of stuff I liked. But the problem? I didn’t find a lot of stuff that fit the smaller frames. And I didn’t want to spend $200 on prints. Next best option? Make my own prints.

I have a decent amount of Photoshop skillz, and I put them to use.

An oft-used HDT quote, some significant dates in our lives and our home state with a heart right over our house.

FUN FACT: Only after printing did I realize those dates are noooot chronological.

Morse code I LOVE YOU. Love life. A picture of Lucy doing what she does best. A postcard from Charleston (honeymoon!).

Ampersand. Photoshoppy watercolors. Wedding. Another oft-used line, this time from “uuggghh that stupid hipster band uggghh” as my husband says.

There are more, including a giant B and a labrador silhouette. This side of the room is coming together nicely! I’m eyeballing a new ottoman right now, waiting for a sale. But I have a coupon so I might take the plunge.

The rest of the living room…eh. It needs work. But maybe progress will be faster than slurtle/turtoth frame collage speed. Hahahaha. No. It won’t. 😀

ALSO: I’d like to give a big, giant Internet hug to my friend Jenn, who recently finished chemotherapy and just underwent surgery this week for breast cancer. She’s amazing and has such an incredible spirit and just thinking about how strong she is, well, it makes my allergies act up a little. Seriously. She’s a badass I can’t wait to see her and give her a real-life hug when she’s properly recovered. She has a Go Fund Me page to raise money to help offset treatment costs. I encourage you to read her story, and after that, help her out. Then go check your own boobies, because you never know.

5 Responses to I’ve Been Framed!

  1. Megan says:

    L.o.v.e, love. What did you use the to make all of that? I vote you do a tutorial post:)

  2. Love the art! I’m thinking about doing the same down the road (making my own).. maybe. 🙂 Will see!

    • paige says:

      Yeah, I think I’ll eventually fill them with photos, postcards and art collected over time, but for now, this really works. And it was $12 to get it all printed, haha.

  3. Ashley says:

    You painted the legs of our couch! Definitely something I want to do too. Nothing wrong with the original light birch color, but it doesn’t mesh well in my family room. What brand of spray paint do you recommend?

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