Mother's Day is around the corner! I was having some difficulty coming up with something to make her for Mother's Day. I wanted it to be something unique and memorable.
On Friday, my wife went to my daughter's school for a Mother's Day celebration. I asked her to send me pictures, and she sent me a great picture of the two of them. My daughter is notorious for not smiling in pictures, or making a strange face at the last minute. Well, not this time! She was even posing!
It was at that moment that I knew I had to do a frame! I wanted to make sure I could display this moment on a custom piece of art and give it to my wife for Mother's Day!
Now, I can't take all the credit for this. I actually had this plan saved on my Pinterest board for a long time, and I finally had a reason to make it. You can see the plan here:
But I definitely wanted to make some changes to the plan to make it uniquely mine!
Let's get started!
I started with a 12" X 4' piece of pinewood board. I used my table saw to cut the wood into 3.5" wide strips. I cut each of the strips to 17.5" in length using my miter saw and lined them up next to each other. The total width of the piece will be 14".
These strips will make up the body of the frame...
The next part was to cut some horizontal strips to keep the piece together and hold the picture in place!
I cut another strip of pine to 2.5" wide and it into (2) strips 14" long...
Next, I cut a 1/8" deep indent into each of the horizontal strips. It was about 1/4" tall. I did this by setting up my table saw blade to 1/4" above the table surface. Then, I set up the fence to the desired spot and ran the wood through carefully while up on it's side!
There are a couple different ways that I could have done this, like routing for example. But this seemed like a pretty simple way to get it done, so I sent ahead with this approach, and it worked out great!
Next up is to attach the horizontal strips to the vertical strips...
The plans called for the strips to be positioned at 1.5" from the top and bottom of the frame. The indent is set up facing inwards towards the back of the frame so the picture can slide easily in and out.
I used wood glue on the back of the horizontal strips and clamped them into position.
I flipped the whole piece over and screwed (2) 1.5" screws for each vertical strip from the back to secure the horizontal strips for even more security!
I flipped it over to take a look...
Perfect!
Now, a thorough sanding before paint and stain!
I wanted this to remain a rustic looking piece, so I left some imperfections and rough spots. I used my palm sander with 120-grit sandpaper to do the job, and got the tight spots manually.
Next up is paint and stain!
My wife really likes the classic gray look with whitewash finish. To get this look, I wiped on Dark Walnut stain using a shop rag. Once the stain dried, I used a 1:1, white paint to water mixture and brushed it on using a foam brush. I let it sit for about 5 seconds, and then I wiped it off using a shop rag in the direction of the grain. This produces a nice, light gray color.
To make it look a little more rustic, I went over the heavily whitewashed parts with some sandpaper to remove some of the paint.
I let the whitewash fully dry and then applied some poly.
I went with a water-based satin finish, spray-on polyurethane for this one. The satin has a little bit of sheen, but not much, so the "rustic-ness" of the piece remains intact!
The next morning, I was looking at the piece...
Something was missing...
That's it!
I found some old, rustic drawer pulls that I had stashed away. I mounted them in the center of both of the horizontal strips on the front. While they are primarily decorative, the whole frame could be picked up using the handles on the top and bottom!
Last step is to add some mounting hardware!
I decided on sawtooth picture hanger for this one. I mounted one on each side at the same height on the back and nailed them in using a hammer.
Now that all the custom work is done, it's time to add the picture!
And it's done!
I really love the look of this frame! It's so rustic and farmhouse, but it was made out of 100% new materials!
I gave it to my wife on Mother's Day morning with my daughter and she loved it! She can't wait to hang it up somewhere in the house! She also really loved the picture I picked! It will fit any 8X10 photo, so it can be easily changed out with the changing times.
This was a nice and easy project to get done in a flash! If I decide to make more in the future, I might add glass to protect the picture. Also, instead of going with the drawer pulls, maybe I can use other decorative pieces to mix it up!
Happy Mother's Day to my amazing wife and to ALL the great moms out there! Enjoy your day, you all deserve it!
-Kevin
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