Painting Frame

J's sister painted us a photo a few years back. I love the painting, but she didn't paint the edge of the canvas. 

It's kind of funny how certain things don't really bother me but then I just can't stand it any more. Like J's brother and his wife who are temporarily living with us. The first 50 times I came home to dishes in the sink, not so bad. But now, I'm busting out with the crazy eyes.

So I decided the best course of action would be to make a frame for my painting and also to make some passive aggressive snarky comments. I'm a woman of action. 

I think J's brother is 40% scared of me. I get some inner satisfaction from that.

I don't have a miter saw, so for a few bucks I got a miter box and a hand saw.

It wasn't too bad, but it wasn't too fun either.

Then I was trying to figure out what stain would work. It was more difficult than I thought. The grey and brown I already had didn't match. 

We decided on an ebony stain, and I wanted a rustic feel, so I dinged up the boards really well and then did a light/uneven coat.

It did not look great. So I did a second, darker coat.

I didn't get a photo, but once I was done cutting, the edges didn't fit together properly. It was really frustrating. I thought this was going to be a simple project but it was so not. So I was able to reuse the bigger boards by cutting off the pointed edges (I used the table saw and it was so satisfying) and just cut the two side boards longer.

Also I stained the boards but rubbing them with a cloth and totally rubbed right over a large splinter into my thumb. I had sanded the boards, but dinging them up brought out some splinters. This project was not my favorite.

Did I mention that when I was picking out the boards, they were on a shelf, and as I was shifting through trying to find straight boards, one jumped right off the shelf and bloodied my toe? I put that on snapchat and then my oldest nephew admonished me, and said next time he needed a warning before I posted graphic images. Es-cah-use me I thought I was capturing a moment in my dramatic life. 

The darker stain looks a lot better.

I told J the nice thing about "rustic" is that you can pretend mistakes were intentional.

In keeping with the theme of this project, shortly after this photo it fell off the wall because the wire hanger on the back became un-twirled.

I'm glad it's done. I think it looks nice. It had better freaking look nice. Also, admire my small dog. She always has to be in the middle of everything. Don't let her adorableness fool you; she thinks she's a guard dog.

And because I am certain I can do better next time (or I am just crazy) I'll be attempting this again to frame my mirror.

If those Pinterest ladies can do it, I frickity fracking can too.