Framing Flower Prints

Framed flower prints now in my basement hallway. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Framing Flower Prints

A friend recently gave me these sweet US wildflower prints. No, they are not cut out of a book, the set was a reprint of flower plates found in US Wildflower books. Not wanting to spend the hundreds of dollars to have them professionally framed, I settled with five $2.99 per sheet of art paper a little darker than the actual prints.

A visit to area thrift shops turned up the ten 11x14 inch frames, seven matching and three with thinner frames.

They all had some wear along the frames so before adding the prints, I rubbed them with Howard RestorAFinish in Walnut. Counter-intuitive, I know, but over the years I have found using the walnut color on oak, for example, nicely covers nicks and keeps them covered.

After they were dry, I cleaned the glass on both sides, cut the art paper to size and added the flower prints.

I did think through which ones would look better in the different-sized picture frames. For example, I focused on the narrow edge frames at each corner to make sure the flowers were in the right direction.

The frames were hung so that I can read the flower names as I walk by although I recognize some by sight. The calla lilies, for example, are easy to spot in the flower prints without reading the name on the bottom.

I also placed the tiger lilies over the wall lamp, which nicely now illuminates the print.

The wall sconce now highlights the tiger lily print. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Here are all ten prints now lining my basement hallway. Can you see where the third mismatched frame is?

Here’s a hint, take a look at the print under the wall sconce.

The ten flower prints in my basement hallway. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

I didn’t have to polish or do anything else to the wooden frames, with Howard RestorA Finish they now look good as new.

Now to tackle that gold strip on the wall sconce, maybe I should paint that silver?

Charlotte