Give Old Picture Frames a Cheap Facelift

Picture frames that are scratched, dented, losing their paint or just old-looking can really put a damper on the photo, or the overall decor in the room. There are ways to make the picture frames look better, including paint and other touches, but if you really want a cheap way to make picture frames look much better, try foil.

Ordinary foil is not only easy to work with but it's very inexpensive as well. Foil makes for great picture frames when you use an antique technique which makes the foil look like old, hammered metal.

Foil is available in silver, gold and some other colors - if you purchase online. Although the tinted foils aren't readily available in every town there are places that sell it online in colors of red, blue or gold.

Remove the glass and backing from a picture frame and set aside. Tear off a piece of foil large enough to cover the entire picture frame front, and enough excess to wrap around the back of the frame.

Lay the foil on the frame and cut or tear the center. Make four cuts from the center to each corner. Wrap the foil around each side of the frame. Cut off any major excess from the back.

It's okay if the foil wrinkles and crinkles while attaching it to the frame. As a matter of fact, it's best to try and crinkle it. It will give the frame a hammered metal look when completed. After you have the foil in place use a paint brush to apply a coat of black paint to all the foil, even on the sides. Use a soft cloth to immediately remove some of the paint.

Reapply some of the paint if you need to. Painting, then removing part of it, gives the foil a look of old metal that is losing its paint job. The picture frame will look antique and very impressive. No one will be able to tell that it's covered in foil.

It's not absolutely necessary to paint the foil, and it's also not necessary to paint it black. You can leave the foil plain, but if it's silver it'll look like foil. Gold and other colors of foil are a better bet if you don't intend to paint. You can paint other colors on the foil, like white, for example. The silver and white look is the best, if you don't want to use black paint.

The foil wrap technique works for other things besides picture frames, too. You can do something similar with the frame around a mirror, or you can foil-wrap cardboard boxes to make them look metallic.

Try the foil technique on one or two picture frames in your own house. It's easy to do, looks great, and covers up those ugly, worn picture frames you might have. For pennies per frame, you can't beat it!