
I’ve painted a lot of frames before, but thanks to Alex Beard I was recently inspired to try painting picture mounts in the same colour as the frame. And I have to say, it is a gamechanger!
Having saved all of our tester pots from the renovations I was *almost* ready to clear them out, but this is such a great use for them I’m really pleased I kept them. I’d had some Wilko frames for years and they were feeling a bit lacklustre, so they were ripe for a transformation.

If you haven’t got any old frames lying around and don’t want to buy new ones, this makeover would work equally well on charity shop frames – I’ve also done this before with great results. Don’t be afraid to freestyle – if it’s not possible to take the picture out of the frame (sometimes they’re taped shut), paint comes off glass very easily, so don’t stress if you make a mistake.
The art below is by Poppy BH which I bought from the Studio Sale via The Auction Collective. Because it has raw edges I thought it would look better on top of the mount rather than hiding underneath it and I must admit, it looks as good as taking it to a framer! Here’s how I did it…
Step 1. Sand your frame

Step 2. Paint your frame – I’m using an old tester pot of Farrow & Ball ‘De Nimes’

Step 3. Paint your picture mount in the same colour – this took five coats

Step 4. Put it all together!

I love this idea and I’m really keen to give it a go! I’ve potentially got a very silly question… what type of tester paint are you using? Interested as you’ve managed to use it on the frame on mount.
Thank you! X