If you’ve been following Home Beautifully recently, you might have noticed that I finally revealed our gorgeous hallway makeover!  The best part?  Our pretty handmade farmhouse bench. I adore this little nook! Did you spy how I incorporated the recent collection of free pretty printables?

You all know I love pretty free home decor! When I was finishing our new hallway nook, I knew I wanted to incorporate January’s winter printables.  But spending extra money on frames?  Not so much. Simple, rustic picture frames are so easy to make.  

And for printables, there’s no need to fancy routing, glass, or hanging fixtures. In fact, all 3 frames cost less than $12 to make, using some supplies I had on hand. I’ll link the supplies to their source with affiliate links so  you can click and read more.  Want to learn more about how to start this fun project?

Keep on reading to discover how to make rustic, farmhouse style picture frames!

Tools You’ll Need

You can click on each picture to learn more about the tools I used in the project.  Turns out, I had all of these on hand already!  The only thing I needed to buy was the lumber (two 1 by 2 by 8 boards).  Easy!

• Miter saw or hand saw
• Milk paint or chalk paint
• Antiquing wax
• Paint brush
• Kreg Jig
• Clamps
• Kreg screws

Measure and Cut, Cut, Cut

For these frames, I bought two wooden boards from my local Home Depot. (We’re seriously there every. single. weekend.) To keep the frames on the smaller side, I bought two boards that were 1 by 2 by 8.

What do those measurements mean? It means the wood on each board is 3/4″ tall and 1 1/2″ wide.  The board is also about 8 feet long. Wood from Home Depot can be a little confusing because the nominal size (the size its named) is always a little bigger than the actual size.

If you wanted frames that were slightly chunkier or thicker, you could get 1 by 3 or even 1 by 4 boards.

Since all my printables are standard letter size, I used a scrap piece of computer paper to serve as a guide when measuring. I laid the short end of the paper along the wood.  

Then, I marked the distance and cut a quick straight line with my Ryobi miter saw. If you didn’t have a saw like this, you could easily use a hand saw and a miter box for this step.  Using the short strip of wood as a guide, I cut 5 more short strips to serve as the tops and bottoms of all frames.

Next, I laid my top and bottom pieces of wood against my paper, making sure to overlap the edge of the computer paper slightly. After that, I continued to lay my board against the computer paper, measuring out a side piece to ensure it overlapped the top and bottom.

I marked my measurement and cut the side piece. Using the side piece as a guide, I then measured and cut 5 more.

Join the Frames and Sand Away

There are lots of ways to join wood pieces together. For me, the easiest way is to use a Kreg Jig! Its that blue tool in the left of the photo that makes those funny holes you see in the wood.

Those holes are called pocket holes. I used the Kreg Jig to drill pocket holes in the wood. With the jig, I could set the wood’s particular measurements to ensure the pocket holes are the right size and depth.  That way, I know the joint will connect correctly. The Kreg Jig comes with a helpful guide.

After I had drilled all my pocket holes with my Makita drill, I used my little Black and Decker screwdriver to drive 1 1/4 inch pocket screws into my holes, clamping my wooden pieces with my DeWalt clamp to keep them in place when I’m driving in screws.

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The Black and Decker Roto-Bit is one of my favorite little screwdrivers. I use it all the time for quick projects like these!

Next step? Sand, sand, sand! My little Ryobi Corner Cat is awesome, especially when I don’t need or want to pull out my larger DeWalt orbital sander.

The Corner Cat is small and battery operated and super easy to use. I used 120 grit sandpaper to sand out the roughness in the wood until the wood felt smooth to my fingertips.

Distress, Finish, and Hang!

Once the frames are sanded smooth, I went back in with my hammer and some screws and distressed them.

You can use gravel for this too and grind the gravel into the board with the heels of your shoes. I like how the wood looks with a little more texture.

The brown finishing wax I used to finish the frames sinks into all the nooks and crannies, giving the frames a beautiful weathered look.

When the frames were distressed, I finished them by using 2 coats of Minwax classic gray stain and a sponge brush.  

I keep about a thousand of these little brushes on hand.  After applying the stain, I waited for it to dry, then applied 2 coats of Old Fashioned Milk Paint’s Oyster Grey paint.

If you’re not familiar with milk paint, definitely check it out. It’s environmentally friendly and very easy to distress (…and yes, there’s milk in the formula!) Once the paint dried,

I used my Corner Cat one more time to distress the corners, then applied clear and dark finishing wax with my pretty chalkology brush to give it a little shine and age.

I popped some little sawtooth hangers on the back of each frame, then used masking tape to secure my printables to the back.

Masking tape works perfectly! From the front, it’s hidden, and the tape will be easy to remove when I switch up the printables every month!  

I adore how these frames turned out!  They complete the space perfectly, have a lovely weathered look, and will be great for displaying different printables each month!  

Plus, since I already had most of the materials I needed, they only cost a few bucks each!  Love!