diy art mat

Maybe you've been in this situation - you have a great piece of art, but it's an odd size and you're not sure how to frame it. The piece was inexpensive, maybe even free from here, so you don't want to invest in a custom frame and mat.

Here is a little tip to help you fit any piece into a store-bought frame and add a little personality with paint.

The poster that I framed this weekend was actually picked out by my husband! Major props to him! It is special too, because it's a wine map of California. One thing we loved doing in California was driving to Temecula, a southern California wine country.

Anyway, the map is an odd size so I did a little diy project to get it to fit into this frame:


Like a million other decorators, I love IKEA's RIBBA frames. As you can see, they come with their own mats.

First, you can pick out paint for your mat. You can use acrylic paint, but since I practically have a paint store in my garage, I always use latex paint for my projects:



(I don't recommend using gloss paint though)

Then, prep your mat to be painted:



I brought up three colors, and decided on the medium/dark gray:



I like to use the cheap foam brushes for painting the mats. They work perfectly:





I like to do two coats.

Okay, now to fit the odd size print - put the print ON TOP of the mat! Center the print over the mat, and secure with double side tape.

This will allow you to put any size print over any size mat, as long as the original opening of the mat does not show.

And the result!