Used Frames Turned Equestrian Style

It's no secret that my interior design style has turned slightly towards an Equestrian Approach.  Think Country Club meets French Farmhouse.  I love the rustic look with a little sophistication.  I have been tweaking the house over the past few months to really capture the look I wanted, and I have to stay, I am more and more in love with it every single day.

Some of you may assume that I have a past with horses in some shape or form.  The truth is I actually I have very little.  No more than a handful of times.  I have more of a relationship with cattle than I do horses, but I have always been drawn to the majestic, beautiful side of the animal.  There is something so peaceful about these creatures, that creating space with their presents has been therapeutic in some ways.

A few years ago - yes I said YEARS, I founds these photo frames with some type of old floral artwork.  I think someone was going to throw them out and I knew I wanted them just for their frames alone!  They sat in our guest room closest for most of their time with us, until I really was able to develop a plan.  That plan came into fruition over the past few weeks and I am SOOOO happy with how this little project turned out.

So here are the frames with the artwork that I was able to get for fa-reeee! ... they are beauties aren't they!?

These babies have a silver-gold brushed frame, with a tiny black interior trim.  They included a cream mat with a gold stripe.  Not exactly what I wanted.  I took these two frames apart so that it was just the frame and the glass like so ...

On Ebay, I found these re-produced horse racing images for less than $10.00 each!  I took the old cream mat to Michael's and hand them cut me a new white mat to go to inside the frames and to go with the new horse racing photos.  The mats themselves were a stock option and they have a small black trim on the inside to match the frames.  The mats cost me $15.00 each.

You can see I got real techy and used an avocado peeler to lift up the old mat and to push down the old staples.  I'm just cool like that!

It really doesn't get any easier! The new mat and photo are placed into the empty frames. I added the previous backing to hold them in place. You can purchase brown paper backing if you like to create the dust backing, however, I already had some at home, so I used that to the back of the frame.

I picked the images at random from Ebay. I wanted horse racing photos, so I chose on from Seabiscuit and the other is Secretariat with Churchill Downs as the backdrop.  The hardest part was deciding which wall to add them to. I had a few options, but ultimately chose one in-between the kitchen and dining room.

So for a grand total of $50.00 - I was able to get a high-end Equestrian look for pennies on the dollar.  It's hard to believe I didn't have anything on this wall before hand, and each morning when I pass them, I instantly get a smile of my face!

Moral of the story - if you have old photos or artwork that you think you should throw out because they aren't in style anymore, make sure to take a long hard look at the frames themselves.  You never know what you can create by switching out the art!

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