Easy DIY Chicken Wire Photo Holder From a Thrifted Frame
Make a quick and easy chicken wire photo holder from a thrift store frame for super cheap. Perfect gifts for teens, moms, and weddings or fun home decor.
The other day my daughter and I were shopping for some items to decorate her room at college and she picked up a chicken wire photo holder at Michaels. She thought it would be a cute way to display photos, verses and sayings above her desk.
While it wasn’t a terrible price – it was around $20, though I can’t remember exactly – all I could think of were the thrift store frames we had at home, the huge roll of chicken wire out in the garden that came with our house, and the mini clothespins I had bought a few years ago and used only two from the package.
In other words, free or twenty dollars. What do you think we chose?
Unfortunately, I didn’t get a before of the frame (or the print, but trust me, it was so bad it wasn’t even worthy of Brian’s bad art collection – the symbolism in the painting was just too, um, gross), but picture a dark 70’s frame with lots of little holes in it and streaked with black to make it look old.
Except it didn’t. At. all. I’m sure you’ve seen many frames like this. When I’m looking for thrift store frames, I always look for chunky wood frames and just try to ignore whatever bad finish it has.
Once you have your materials, this project is so easy it literally takes just minutes, though it is spread out over a couple days to allow the paint to dry.
How to make a DIY Chicken Wire Photo Holder
Here’s what you need:
- Thrifted frame in desired size.
- Paint for frame (if painting) – spray paint or acrylic.
- Sandpaper (optional to distress).
- Chicken wire to fit frame opening.
- Light duty wire cutters (you can also use the wire-cutting part on most needle-nosed pliers since this wire is very thin).
- Staple gun and staples.
- Duct tape for back (to protect wall) – optional.
- Picture hangers.
- Mini clothespins.
Here’s what you do:
1. Paint frame and let dry thoroughly. We needed a few coats and ended up brushing paint on in order to fill all the little holes in the frame.
2. Distress frame, if desired, by sanding edges with rough sandpaper.
3. Measure chicken wire to opening of frame and cut to size with wire cutters.
4. Staple chicken wire to the back of the frame, pulling gently to make wire taunt and evenly spaced (the wire can easily be bent).
5. If you want to protect the wall surface like we did, you can cover all the edges of the chicken wire with duct tape.
6. Apply picture hangers, if needed. For our daughter’s college room, we are using velcro picture hangers since you can’t nail anything to the walls.
7. Use the mini clothespins – or another type of clip that would work – to hold photos and mementoes.
I have to say that my daughter wasn’t all too sure how it was going to turn out as I was making it, but she loves how it turned out!
This version is bigger than what we saw at the store, so she’ll be able to use it for more things and it will fit nicely above her desk. It looks great here in her room, too – but I don’t think that’s enough to keep her home. Sigh.
Even if you don’t have all the materials laying around like we did, you can find large frames at thrift stores for about $5 dollars, the chicken wire and little clothespins are each about $2-$4 and a can of spray paint is a couple of dollars, so it’ll probably run around $10 to make. And it would be even less if you make more than one to give as gifts, since you’ll probably have to buy more than you’d need for just one.
What else could you use this for besides photos?
These also work really well as jewelry holders – earrings hang easily on the wire and necklaces can be looped through or hung from hooks added to the wire.
Have you ever made one of these before? If so, how did you end up using it?
Want to save this?
Enter your email below and you'll get it straight to your inbox. Plus you'll get easy new recipes, gardening tips & more every week!
Easy DIY Chicken Wire Photo Holder From a Thrifted Frame
Tools
- Sandpaper (optional to distress)
- Light duty wire cutters (you can also use the wire-cutting part on most needle-nosed pliers since this wire is very thin)
- Staple gun and staples
Materials
- 1 Thrifted frame in desired size
- Paint for frame (if painting) – spray paint or acrylic
- Chicken wire to fit frame opening
- Duct tape for back (to protect wall) – optional
- Picture hangers
- Mini clothespins
Instructions
- Paint frame and let dry thoroughly. We needed a few coats and ended up brushing paint on in order to fill all the little holes in the frame.
- Distress frame, if desired, by sanding edges with rough sandpaper.
- Measure chicken wire to opening of frame and cut to size with wire cutters.
- Staple chicken wire to the back of the frame, pulling gently to make wire taunt and evenly spaced (the wire can easily be bent).
- If you want to protect the wall surface like we did, you can cover all the edges of the chicken wire with duct tape.
- Apply picture hangers, if needed. For our daughter’s college room, we are using velcro picture hangers since you can’t nail anything to the walls.
- Use the mini clothespins – or another type of clip that would work – to hold photos and mementoes.
If you didn’t know, I LOVE easy handmade gifts – both giving and receiving! If you do, too, CLICK HERE to see AOC’s entire handmade gifts category with tons of DIY gift ideas.
Here are a few of my favorites:
Flax Seed Neck Warmers – the best!!
Jami, that looks great! I could use one in my kitchen and one in my office/extra bedroom. I have everything except the chicken wire and the mini clothespins. Guess I ned to find out the smallest amount of chicken wire I can buy. 😉