~ delicious decor ~: Vintage Record Cabinet Repurposed and Wall Art Display

Creating a focal point in a room doesn't have to be expensive or fussy. While putting my own living room design together I wanted to personalise our space by incorporating items that were reflective of our passions without breaking the bank.

As I wished for the room to have a warm and natural feel I found photographs that had been taken by the family at places that were special to us. The pictures shared a common 'yellow' theme that complimented the rug and I also repeated this hue when accessorising the room.

Here is how I put together the wall art display and gave new life the second hand record cabinet.

The frames are from IKEA and just happened to match perfectly with the walnut finish on the cabinet.

Ribba Frame from IKEA

Because I couldn't size the photographs to fit perfectly within the sqaure mat of the frame, I created a border and painted it the same colour as the room - Flint by Benjamin Moore - AF560.

I applied two coats of paint and then measured and cut out what I needed.

Once Chomper was nicely centred, I fixed him in with sticky photograph corners.

This process was simple and there was little cost involved in achieving the desired effect. This project was similar to the basement vignette I created last year, except with that project I painted the entire mat rather than just a border.

Once we hung the pictures it was time to turn my attention to this old record cabinet that we are now using to store Christmas decorations in. Hey, it's got storage space so I may as well use it!

BEFORE - My record cabinet with dark dingy speakers.

I used a wood polish to cleaned up the grain and revive the stain. It was in pretty good shape so not much else was needed. The speakers however, required a bit more time and creativity.

It was impossible to remove the speaker fronts without damaging the unit so they had to stay put. Hubby was kind enough to saw me out plywood boards that fit neatly within the opening of the speaker. We made it slightly smaller to allow for the batten and fabric to be wrapped around it afterwards.

If you are thinking of tackling a similar project and the scale of the print on the fabric is large, be sure to stand back and see which cut will look best once framed. Where I taped the pieces shows what part of the print will be framed and visible on the piece. I made the cut much larger so it would wrap around the board easily, then added batten (below) to soften the look.