“It’s Moron-Chic.”

This weekend M and I decided to take on a project that we thought was going to be simple, but ended up with something entirely different. Ever have one (or ten) of these projects happen?

We’ve received a few fun invitations in the mail, and had no where to display them. Instead of doing a simple thing like going out and purchasing magnets to put them on the fridge, I had Pinterest on the brain and wanted to put together a cute chicken wire frame we could hang above our desk. A few hours and curse words later, we took a seat to look at the finished product… M dubbed it “moron-chic”, hence the title of this post. And then we shared a big laugh. I suppose it’s not entirely a fail if you get a good bonding we’re-incapable-of-making-a-simple-frame-today-laugh out of it 🙂

All we needed for this project was:

• one 8′ 1×2 board
• poultry netting (who knew that’s what it was called?)
• stain of your choice
• medium/fine grit sandpaper
• flat metal L brackets

We cut our pre-primed 1×2 into four pieces, two at 30″ and two at 18″, then cut the corners at 45 degree angles to form a frame. If it was possible, we would have used a miter saw to do these cuts. We were stuck using a scrolling jig saw, and it was the main cause of our errors (that’s our excuse at least).

Once the frame was cut, we attached the four sides together using the flat metal brackets. We pre-drilled our holes so the wood wouldn’t split, and then screwed in the brackets.

If our measurements were right, we would’ve had a rectangle. Sadly, we had more of a slight parallelogram, but we rolled with it.

Next, we sanded down the whole frame, making sure the edges were roughed up, and got to staining using the method we posted about this morning. All we needed was one can of stain and we got two different colors out of it to get that awesome multi-layered finish!

Next, we rolled out our poultry netting (aka chicken wire), cut it to size with wire cutters (look near the middle of most needle-nose pliers for a small wire cutter) and attached it to the back of the frame using a staple gun. Make sure to pull the netting tight as you go, similar to upholstering.

In order to hang it, we attached a few saw tooth hangers to the back, and we were done! We hung everything on the chicken wire with small silver binder clips found at most office stores.

Moron-chic or not, it’s a perfect way to display little notes and invites and if anything, we got a good laugh out of it.

Did you work on anything fun this weekend? We’re ready to tackle another redemption project or two (one might be that Ikea desk hint hint) and can’t wait for this weather to warm up so we can get outside to do them : ) Come on Michigan- you can do it!

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