At Least She's Trying: Office Wall Decor

I started a new job in August of this year, and with the new job came a new office with 4 hopelessly bare walls. I was so overwhelmed at the thought of decorating this office, I put it off for months. My mom even offered to call The Nate Berkus Show to ask him to decorate it for me. So tempting, but I was determined to do this on my own. I eventually became inspired and did something about it. It's not 100% complete, but I'm definitely satisfied with the progress.

My most recent additions to my office have been several framed pieces of cloth with quotes. Anyone who knows me knows how important words are to me, so much so that I am constantly collecting quotes that really speak to me. I thought it'd be a great idea to showcase them in a unique way while at the same time bringing some color to my office walls. It may sound a little cheesy, but I am actually really proud of the results.

If you like the photos below, I hope you'll try this project yourself. It's surprisingly simple, and ransacking several thrift stores to find the materials was a fun treasure hunt. I wish I had taken step-by-step pictures of the process, but as I said in my first post, these are all projects that were completed before the whole blogging idea came to me. Anyhow, here's a brief description of how I did it and pics of some of the final products.

First, I hit the thrift stores to find cheap (I LOVE cheap!) art and picture frames. I mostly chose large ones (about 16 x 20) to take up a lot of space on my bare walls, but this can be done with any size frame. Color and finish weren't important as I had plans to spray paint all my finds. And it doesn't have to be just frames. I found a round clock that had amazing details. I kicked out the middle and used it just like the other frames. It may be my favorite piece.

I took the glass and art out of the frames and spray painted them all with a glossy black spray paint. Pretty easy and hard to mess up. Once dry, I used a staple gun to secure fabric on the back of the frame. I chose black, white, and blue fabric to ensure a coordinated look throughout my office. I secured the quotes (printed on plain white cardstock) onto the fabric with dimensional adhesives. For those who are new to these neat little treasures, they are similar to glue dots but made of foam and therefore much thicker so anything that is mounted with them stands out from the background and appears to float. I love the effect.

And that's about it. Again, I hope you'll give it a try, and if you do, please let me know how it turns out!