In case you didn’t realize it already, I am one of those people that keeps tweaking away at a room or space until it feels just right. Even though our daughter’s room was one of the first to be decorated when we moved back into our house post-reno, there were still those little changes that have been niggling away at me. One of them? To paint IKEA Ribba picture frame mats pink!
Let me back up for a sec. There was this one corner of her room that had been bugging me. Compared to the super bright and cheery room, this area with plain white frames and bookshelves felt a little dull. It needed a little more “happy”.
I decided to pull the mats out of the frame – they are the IKEA Ribba frames which I use EVERYWHERE in our house – and give them a makeover.
I took the same pink paint I had used on the opposite wall of her room (“Flushed” by Para Paints) and gave the mats a coat. It took all of 5 minutes to brush on the paint, and I let them dry overnight. I had been a bit worried that they would curl or there would be really obvious brush strokes (I used a fairly big paint brush) but it turned out totally fine!
Popped the art back together and up on the wall, and check out how darling they now look! So much better, right?
These mats are definitely bright and have a kids-room appeal, but you could totally use this same trick for any of the artwork in your pad. Want to make your frames a bit more moody? Paint the mats a rich black. Maybe you need to unify a collection in a gallery wall? Painting the mats all the same color would absolutely do the trick. The possibilities are endless and it’s such an easy upgrade that looks so custom.
Want more?
If you want to see how we decorated Maya’s room – including a ton of DIY projects, like her ice cream cone wall, embroidery hoop artwork, and more – head on over to this before and after nursery post.
Get the Look:
Source Links:
- Urban Walls Decals. I’m obsessed with all the decals from Urban Walls (which is where I got the ice cream cones for this room)!!
- Overdyed Turquoise Rug: Love this style of rug so much. Looks cute but not overly “kid”.
- White Crib: A classic. You can’t go wrong with white! Ours was a gift, but I love the sweet details on this antique style one.
- Pink crib sheets. Love these sweet floral ones, and these heart ones.
- Gold Letters for the Wall. Spell out your kid’s name, or a cute phrase!
- Gold hardware for dresser. Take an old dresser, paint it, and update the hardware with these cool gold campaign style pulls.
- Box Shelves for the walls. Use these to put little trinkets inside. Perfect for a different kind of art display! I used these cube ones and painted them mint, but if I had discovered these little house shelves first I would have used them (SO cute!!!).
- Gold light fixture. Mine was a DIY, but this gold geometric pendant is similar and stunning!
- Paint colours: ‘Flushed’ by Para Paints (pink wall), ‘Baffling Behavior’ by Para Paints (mint closet doors + window trim), Jo Jo Whitewash (white walls)
Room Tutorials:
Here are all the projects from this room makeover:
- The “before” and Room Moodboard
- Creating the Ice Cream Cone Decal Wall
- Using IKEA Picture Ledges as Bookshelves
- DIY Embroidery Hoop Art
- DIY Felt Raindrop Mobile (in Maya’s original nursery, which I disassembled and re-hung in this room)
- Pink Dresser Makeover
- DIY Wallpapered Closet
- IKEA Latt Table Hack
- IKEA Ribba Picture Frame Hack (painting the mats pink!)
Do you guys have any art framing tricks to share? Ever hacked an IKEA frame? I want to hear about it!