DIY Window Picture Frame

I’m no expert at carpentry or craftsmanship. But I am one of those people who sees DIY projects on Pinterest and thinks, “I can totally do that”. Or, worse, sees something I really want and thinks, “I can definitely make that myself”.

Which is what happened with my latest DIY project. I’ve seen tons of old windows turned into photo frames all over the internet and my farmhouse-décor-loving heart fell in love with them. I could have bought one…but where’s the fun in that?

So, I found an old window at a Habitat Restore for $15…and it sat in my house for almost a month before I found the time to work on it (that whole being a responsible adult thing and having job sucks sometimes).

Two weeks ago, I finally had enough of a break in my schedule to set aside some DIY time…and I finally finished the project last night.

Start to finish, it definitely took longer than I anticipated.

The window I picked was double-paned, so my first step was removing all the aluminum trim and the back pane of glass. And I underestimated that task, big time. The aluminum was easy since it was held on by just glue and not screwed together. I was able to use a flathead screwdriver to pry it off pretty quickly.

The glass was another story.

Window putty is so not my friend.

I started by applying a few applications of adhesive remover to loosen the putty. After letting it soak in for about an hour after each application, I used a box cutter to dig the putty out from under the crossbars and around the frame. It kind of worked, but it was a looong process and I lost patience. Since I didn’t need that back pane of glass, I resorted to shattering it and pulling the majority of it out (I imagine there’s a much better process for this, but hey, it was a lot quicker).

Then I was left with a lot of shards around the frame area that were embedded in there with a ton of putty. Trying to pry it all out was hazardous and really difficult. So, I finally called on my old friend Google. The next day I went out and bought a pretty inexpensive heat gun (and berated myself for not doing it sooner).

Working in small sections, I used the heat gun to melt the putty and was able to dig out the glass with my flathead screwdriver. One. Tiny. Friggin’. Piece. At. A. Time.

It still took a while, but I imagine if I hadn’t used a heat gun, I’d still be trying to dig out those pieces of glass (and I’d probably be struggling to do it with bandages on my hands).

All in all, I’m calling it a victory.

The rest of the project was a lot more fun. To protect the front pane of glass, I covered it on both sides with paper and painter’s tape. Then I spray painted the whole frame with multiple coats of a nice off-white color.

To give it a real farmhouse style, I waited until the paint was dry and attacked it with sandpaper. Sanding away the paint around the edges and around the front of the frame gave it an old, weathered look that’s perfectly rustic (I keep warning Scott that f he keeps letting me decorate however I want, our house is eventually gonna look like a barn…luckily, he doesn’t seem to mind).

After removing the paper and tape there were a few areas where the paint had seeped through. Thankfully, the spray paint I used wasn’t designed for glass so I was able to gently scrape it off pretty easily.

Then I applied some adorable knobs I found at Hobby Lobby (have I mentioned that I’m completely obsessed with that place?) to use as coat and leash hangers.

Finally, I ordered copies of some of my favorite photos from our wedding and used clear glue dots to attach them to the glass.

Here’s the sad thing…our wedding was last August, over a year ago. We ordered a few prints to give to family members last Christmas but this was the first time I ordered prints to display in our own home.

I know, shameful.

But since we moved not long after the wedding and we knew we weren’t going to stay in our current house longer than a year, we just haven’t bothered hanging up photos. And even though this project won’t go up on the wall quite yet, our lease is up in a few months and we’ll be moving again. Hopefully, to a permanent home. So, really, I’m just getting a head start on our home décor. Because nothing makes a new house feel like home more than hanging up reminders of your favorite memories.

And I can’t wait to display these memories.