Okay, first, I know it’s strange to have a feature wall in a W/C (in America, that term means “a compartment or room with a toilet”) in a bathroom. But our master bathroom is kind of strange. When designing for a wheelchair user, everything has to be bigger and more spread out. So where most water closets in master bathrooms in American homes are little rooms a separate door that can be closed off from the rest of the bathroom, ours is larger with no door. And because this area is bigger than most water closets, that means I have a large wall behind the toilet.
And you know me. I can’t just leave a large wall with nothing on it. If there’s a large wall, I WILL put something on it. š
So knowing that I’d have this large wall behind the toilet that wouldn’t be visible from the main part of the bathroom, I had been on the lookout for an idea to use to add color and interest to that wall. I considered making some kind of artwork, but then I came across a picture on Instagram that really sparked my interest. I LOVE this wall filled with a grid of small colorful pictures.

I’ll pass on the neon sign for my bathroom, though. š
And of course, it was just the general idea that I loved. I wanted to take this general idea and add my own style. And what is that style? White frames, of course! I love just about anything featured in a white frame, and turning lots of colorful white framed items into a gallery wall is even better!
To be clear, the wall I’m talking about is this wall in the photo below that is pink. But as I shared yesterday, that wall won’t stay pink. I tried it, and didn’t like it, so it’ll be white like the other walls.

So after taking some measurements, I headed to Michael’s yesterday afternoon to see if they had enough frames to fill that wall. I knew that I’d have better chances of winning the lottery than I would of Michael’s having 35 matching frames, but I wanted to look anyway.
I came across these frames that were perfect. They were well made (unlike some of the frames I’ve bought there), and they had double mats. With the double mat, they will hold a 4″ x 6″ picture. Without the mats, they’ll hold 5″ x 7″ pictures. These were exactly what I was looking for!

So I stood there with my calculator in hand, figuring out how many I would need to create my gallery based on the outer measurements of this frame (which is 7″ x 9″). It came to 35. I’d need 35 frames. Yikes! These frames were priced at $16.99.

They had a sale that was buy one at regular price and get the second frame at 50% off. But even at that, each frame would be $12.75 each. That’s $446.25 for 35 frames. Again, yikes!!
Plus, they didn’t have enough in stock, of course. I considered buying all of the frames in all of the colors — white, black, silver, and white — and then spray painting them. But even at that, there weren’t enough.
So I got on their website to see if I could order the rest, and I did find the frame sold individually. But I also found an EIGHT-PACK of the same frame, sold for $48.64!! WHAT?! That’s only $6.08 each! I don’t think I’ve ever seen quality frames sold that cheap! They also have the next size up, which holds a 5″ x 7″ picture matted or an 8″ x 10″ without the mats, in an 8-pack. In the store, those frames are $24.99 each. In the eight-pack sold online, they’re $10.28 each.
If you’ve been wanting to do a gallery wall and have been looking for nice frames that won’t break the bank, these are a great option! I didn’t get the immediate gratification that I was hoping for yesterday, but the chances of that happening when I needed 35 frames were pretty much 0%. And with that kind of savings, the wait is well worth it.

Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.
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13 Comments
Cheryl SB
July 6, 2022 at 11:53 amMy suggestion is make a huge frame, of 1″X2″s and divide it into your sections. So your picture hole is under sized to what ever size you wanted[so there is a lip to hold the glass& picture.] Then rabbit out the backs for the photos, glass. Could be a lot less expensive, but lot more time! LOL! No way I would spend that for framing with your skills.
You might even find dollar tree frames with glass in them really cheap to use.
No matter I know it will be a knock out way when you are done!
Betsy
July 6, 2022 at 7:35 pmPerhaps, but the frames from Michael’s come with a double mat already to go.
Kristi Linauer
July 7, 2022 at 10:30 amIt’s a trade off either way. It’ll either cost more money or more time. Spending $200 for 40 ready-made frames (while I can move on and use my time elsewhere) seems less costly to me than dedicating two or three days of my time to make 35 frames.
Karen Hackett
July 6, 2022 at 3:44 pmI know you are planning to repaint that wall, but white frames on a white wall seems like a waste of good frames. You might consider adding a small amount of pink in your white wall paint to leave just a hint of pink.
Julie
July 6, 2022 at 8:59 pmIf you are filling that wall with white frames maybe leave the pink?
Kristi Linauer
July 7, 2022 at 10:28 amI really like the idea of the frames adding more of an architectural/textural interest rather than adding contrast on a colorful wall.
Ellen Shook
July 6, 2022 at 9:16 pmI think the pink wall is pretty — but I don’t live there!
Gloria
July 7, 2022 at 9:10 amIf u went to dollar tree u could have bought frames in question, w no mats for $1 ea and a can of white spray paint. Much more economical achieving the same results.
Kristi Linauer
July 7, 2022 at 9:15 amCheap frames with no mats do not achieve the same result as frames with double mats.
Chris
July 7, 2022 at 3:18 pmThese are some of my absolute favorite frames! I’ve bought various sizes over the years as they’ve been on sale just to have them (yes, I’m that person with a bin of frames that then will still have to buy frames for other projects, lol).
Jayne Liberty
July 7, 2022 at 8:50 pmIf you let Michaels send you texts they send a 20 percent off your total price almost daily. This week though it is 30 percent off. It might be worth signing up temporarily and canceling later
Jayne Liberty
July 7, 2022 at 8:52 pmhttps://click.emdeals.michaels.com/?qs=c7020d22894af2890526b986c329405dcbcc88d71557a4ed1981b723ab31b702f1efd1c22dc4edd6fde0c0b071ec21e8cfa049d1b15e6f593b556201ec0e854c
Angie
July 8, 2022 at 10:24 amOooo Iām looking forward to seeing what art you use in the frames. I love the inspiration image but know that wonāt be the direction you go š