To a DIYer, an estate sale is even better than shopping at say, the Mall of America.


So imagine my chagrin when I sent Mr DIY out for bread and milk one Saturday...

And he comes home a couple hours later and tells me that he went to not one..but two estate sales...



The questions tumbled out of me in rapid succession.

The response? A typical male (sorry guys), no details answer..."nothing good".




However, he came home with a 'consolation prize' for me...


He pulled this out of the trash for me.

An enormous ornate gold frame with a cheesy palm tree print.

I was suitably impressed :)



Initially I thought I'd ditch the print and just keep the big, empty frame and paint it...

...however, I've already done that.

I wanted to challenge myself to do something completely different.

I decided to paint an abstract over the print, and keep the frame in its original gold.

So Mr DIY helped me pop the print out of the frame. Unfortunately, the ugly mat was glued to the print and when I peeled it apart, it took some of the print with it.

No problem! I wanted texture anyway.

It worked just like a trowel and spread the paint much faster than a brush would have. I got a nice, thick coat to add to the texture and rather than trying to smooth it, I pounced the spatula over the paint, creating little ridges and bumps. I was thinking that when it dried, it would be a nice textured surface for the modern abstract painting I intended to do.

Bad lighting, I was working at night

Here's a close up of the texture I achieved. So much more interesting than a flat, painted surface!


I forgot to mention that once everything dried, I painted an acrylic sealer over it. That's what gives it the pretty sheen.


bringing beauty to the ordinary,