Chippy Picture Frame DIY

A super easy chippy white paint makeover for an old picture frame!


One of my favorite things to thrift are huge picture frames.  I don’t really come across them very often so I get so happy when I find one!

I picked up this old frame a couple weekends ago at a yard sale.  I originally was planning to use it as a frame for a corkboard.  I’m working on a little command center area by our front doors & already had a dry erase calendar so I wanted a corkboard area to put paperwork.

Here’s what the frame looked like before it got its chippy makeover!

I’m not sure if you can see it in any of these pics, but the frame was pretty rough on a couple of the edges.  I think it just adds to the rustic feel!  It’s funny how things that used to be considered flawed are super cool now!

After taking too many pictures of my dog in the frame, I knew the next step was paint!  I was thinking a chippy vintage vibe!

I took my frame to my little basement work area & got started!!

I love how easy frames are to paint.  I got this painted in record time!  Most of the time, I get bored/overwhelmed with painting things, but frames are the easiest!

I already had this white chalk paint on hand so I decided to use it for this piece.  Because I was going for a distressed look, I wasn’t very critical with my painting.  Once I got it painted on one full side, I immediately started distressing.  I used a piece of 100 grit sandpaper & since the paint wasn’t completely dry, I could really get in & distress!

Once everything was dry, I brought the frame upstairs to see how it looked in my little command space…

And then something magic happened!

When I was staging the frame on the other side of the wall, I noticed that it was about the same size as my frameless dry erase board.  Upon further inspection, I quickly realized that it was exactly the same size as my dry erase board.  Just like it was made for it.

What are the odds of that?!  Should I be out buying lottery tickets right now?!

The focus then shifted from making this frame into a corkboard into making it a frame for the dry erase board!  My husband then removed all of the staples from the back of the frame so it could fit snugly around the dry erase board.

Even though this wasn’t the original plan for the frame, I’m totally loving it around the dry erase board!  As a bonus, I already found another frame that I’m planning to use for my corkboard so it all worked out!