I’ve never been so happy that our guest/kids bathroom is so small! I think the only time you wish a room smaller, is when you’re painting the ceiling! Ohmywow, is there anything worse or more painful?! (Obviously, there is, but go with me here.)
My rockstar-contractor (hyphenated because that’s his name) is set to finish tiling the shower, and start the tile floors today, so I wanted to paint the ceiling first so I wouldn’t have to worry about splatters and drips ruining my beautiful new tile. I hope your weekend didn’t leave you with a crick in your neck! Although, mine is worth it…the Valspar ‘Mark Twain Gray Brick’ is dee-vine!! (I’m talking about the Big Box Bathroom remodel.)
Today I have a cool little tip for you fans of the Ikea Ribba frames. Or any matted frames, really. I love using landscape photos from our travels to decorate our walls, and in most cases, we use the 12×17 frames. (See our travel gallery wall here.) But I wanted something much larger for the Dining Room.
I had a poster printed of a photo from our Italy trip at Staples for a cool $20 (watch for their sales). To keep the savings going, I chose the large 28×40 Ikea Ribba frame for $25. It’s a great deal, especially considering the frame includes a mat, but I didn’t care for the yellowy shade of the mat, or the asymmetrical opening.
To have a custom mat made would have cost $50 or more, but did you know Michaels only charges $2 per cut on your existing mats?! And since the flip-side of the mat was a nice bright white, I had them bevel the cut so the white side became the new front. So for just $8, I got a custom look that fits my image and frame perfectly!
This large Ribba frame is made of wood, but the front is plexi…making it near impossible to photograph without a glare! At first I was disappointed it wasn’t glass, but realized that would make it much too heavy. I do recommend using the additional brace included to keep the frame from bowing.
Suddenly I’m looking at all my frames to see if the mats need custom-sizing! Oh, and the picture is of Cinque Terre…the final stop on our Italian trip last Spring. Maybe one of these days I’ll actually post about that little slice of Heaven! Happy Monday, lovebugs…I hope your week is off to a great start!
Love this! I usually turn my ikea mats around to the white side too! I actually love that they're plexiglass now. I have several from a few years back and the glass all broke. I actually have a pretty nasty scar on my leg from one such accident. In the frame in Wells' room I never bothered to buy new glass for it and I kind of like it empty. It photographs really well too now. Ha!
beautiful print!! we have a huge cinque terre photo from our trip in our living room — i found a large frame at michaels. whoohoo for travel photos as art! xo jillian – cornflake dreams
Great tip, and beautiful print. I have also been known to paint my mats with acrylic paint.
That's such a good tip! I always flip my Ribba mats over to the white side, but I am also annoyed at the asymmetry of them. And that photo is gorgeous!
I did not know this!! Mind blown!!
that's a great tip! Thank YOU! Great shot, too 😉
So cute! I just bought the large one's as well for a clients home!
Stop it! $2 a cut?? Have I been living under a rock?? #gamechanger
I've turned mats around before but never thought to have them re-cut and have just lived with them looking funky up close. You so smart!!! I've got to give all my backwards mats a butt lift ASAP!
Beautiful print and such a budget friendly tip! Quite life changing for me actually! Thank you once again for the positive impact you make! Smooches!
Great tip! I've been dying to do this with our Australia prints! I've also heard you can upload your pictures to Kinkos/FedEx and have them printed as architectural prints any size you want for super cheap (black/white or color).
Such a beautiful image and a great tip!
Hi Cassie – found you blog and added you on Twitter! Such a cool idea – i love printing photos from our trip. Sometimes i print them straight on canvas. But my favourite is from a holiday in the west of England – sits in the dressing room! Thanks for the tip thougH!
Thank you so much for the great tip! 🙂
I’m trying to put a world map in a RIBBA frame without any matte at all (since the map sheet fills the frame). Unfortunately the frame and the plastic front doesn’t hold together at all, everything just falls apart since the frame is to narrow to hold anything in place. Eventually, it might work when I have managed to drill supersmall holes for the screws of the brace – all would have been easier if Ikea had pre-drilled those holes…
Such a beautiful Cinque Terre-picture!