My New Favorite Thang Hanging in the Breakfast Nook

It’s not a real breakfast nook.  It’s really our dining room but the builders who built this house must have had a sick sense of humor because it’s literally the smallest dining room this side of the Mason-Dixon.  I’ve struggled for the first 9 years in this house to use it as a dining room.  We never ate in there.  We’re a family of 5 and you could only seat 4 at our table and the table itself was so small (because anything bigger would have never fit!) you had to pre-plate the food or resort to buffet style because there was zero room to put the food on the table.  Anyhow, I digress.  But wait! Super-quick.  I will tell you that if I don’t like something or get bored with it around our house, I don’t hesitate to make a change.  Sometimes to a fault and/or prematurely.  I have lots of unfinished projects i.e. light fixture project, kitchen island project, bathroom project -clearly, these should and will be discussed and noodled over at a later time…

Anyway, back to the fake-dining-room-breakfast-nook.  Last week I posted a photo on our Instagram of another photo I had printed on a rolled 30x40 canvas and finally framed it after months and months of searching for the perfect yet affordable frame.  I’m in love with it and so happy with how it turned out!  So naturally, I figured I should share with you how I did it in case you get any bright ideas to do the same!

I purchased the photo via my SmugMug account and had it printed on a 30x40 rolled canvas (cost $119).  I didn’t like the options of a wrapped canvas nor did I want that look.  I wanted the canvas in a glassless, flat, metal frame.  Simple right?  Well, apparently not.  It sucks when I get an idea in my head because then nothing will do until I can find exactly what I want. 

I found this frame on Amazon and thought it could work, but $169.99 was a lot of money to spend on something that might work.  So I continued on with my search.  Apparently, there aren't many affordable do-it-your-self frames sized 30x40.

Then the Amazon frame above went on sale ----$64.99!!  It was worth a try!  And voila!  It's perfect.  Just what I envisioned.  You guys, things don't really happen for me like this....usually, I get a wild-hair up my butt and an idea for a project and/or see something on Pinterest that I want to recreate and it (almost) always, always goes terribly wrong in execution.  This project ended satisfyingly different.  #winning

Thanks for reading!  Remember to share the blog with your bestie.

ABOUT THE FRAME

So, the frame is actually used for movie posters and meant to be mounted so that you can change the movie posters frequently—probably great for a home theatre room or club basement <lightbulb!>.  And I should mention that I didn’t use the non-reflective and clear PVC cover.  Once you mount the frame to the wall, you snap open the frame, load your canvas and lock it in by snapping the frame closed again.  It was so easy! 

SMUG MUG ROLLED CANVAS

SmugMug is where I keep most of my photos.  Professionals use SmugMug to sell their photos but my subscription is for the more average, amateur photographer ($40/annually).  Meaning I don't make any money off of my photos.  When I need any photo printed, I always use SmugMug.  Their print quality far exceeds any 1-hour shop.  I often insist that families use SmugMug if they choose to print any of the photos I shoot for them.  SmugMug's print quality protects the integrity of the photo unlike a Walgreens or Target 1-hour photo.