Making Picture Frames From Oak Flooring

OK… so I have had a couple of bundles, 100 square feet or so, of oak flooring just sitting around my garage gathering dust… I got the flooring at auction for $7 and I thought it would come in handy for making a table top (no I haven’t gotten around to that yet). However, we needed two good-sized frames for some photo’s we picked up in Charleston, SC. So my SAH (Super Awesome Hubby) and I (really it was just me…) decided it was time to break out the saw and make some frames with this flooring. The wood already has a lip (“tongue”) to hold the picture so it should be a pretty easy project… and other than the 1000% humidity it wasn’t too bad…

Our process…

My SAH cut the floor boards ends at 45 degree angles and used our new joiner to make holes in the ends for the biscuits to be inserted. We first put some wood glue in the holes, inserted the wood biscuit and just repeated the process until the 4 sides were joined to one another. We then used my VERY favorite clamp to pull it all tight (and square)… it is my frame clamp that I use for just about everything! LOVE IT!!

The clamp wraps around the entire frame and gets tightened with the red handle… I also use this clamp when I am repairing drawers.

After the frame set overnight I filled the cracks with wood filler and sanded the entire frame with 150 grit sandpaper.

I used Valspar black paint on the inside lip (to give it some contrast) and then painted the rest of the frame with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Graphite. After the paint dried I lightly sanded it down and applied dark wax directly to the chalk paint surface. This helps darken the graphite color versus just using the clear wax.

I also left the “groove” part of the outside of the frame as is… I kind of like it..I was trying to think of something cleaver to do with it but nothing came to mind…

Here they are all dressed up with photos (not mine) and ready to hang… now I just need to find somewhere to hang them!?

They are photos of doors of Charleston homes, I bought at a shop on Kings Street “Images” the artist is Don Bennett and he has some GORGEOUS photos!!

The door above is very close in coloring to Annie Sloan Chalk Paint “Provence”… hmm.. no wonder why I fell in love with it immediately!

These were VERY simple frames to make if you have the right tools, but even with simpler tools they would still be easy to make… I wanted black frames because it’s the photos I want to draw the attention, not the frame… the colors are very vibrant in person…

I’m going out to buy some glass for them later… I think I am just trying to avoid working in the 99 degree heat…

Thanks for stopping by… until next time!

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PJH Design, Restore Interiors, Domestically Speaking, Savvy Southern Style