Magnetic photo frames

Bring an old picture frame back to life

Actually, I was about to throw this pretty but old picture frame away before I decided to give it a new purpose and transform it into a magnetic board with a classy golden frame.

Creating the magnetic board

I repaired the frame, sprayed it with golden spray paint and bought this 6 mm thick plywood board in the appropriate size.

I put primer on the wooden board and then painted it with 1 litre magnetic paint. I put several coats on, so even weaker magnets would stick. I used a thick brush that applied the paint thick enough and distributed the metal chips evenly.

I let the painted board dry for 1 day. It was important not to put the magnets on too early, otherwise the metal chips could have loosened from the paint and attach to the magnets.

The completed magnetic picture frame

And this is what the pretty magnetic picture frame looks like when finished. As you can see, I attached all sorts of decorative magnets to it, such as Fridge magnets 'African animals'.

Note from the supermagnete team:
The magnetic paint used in this project is dark grey. The magnetic paint we have been selling in our online shop since the end of 2016 is light grey and would look very different in this frame. For a darker hue, you could paint over the magnetic paint with black chalkboard paint. Then you could even write on the surface with chalk.

If you like this project but don’t feel like painting, we recommend our ferromagnetic blackboard films as an alternative. These self-adhesive sheets come in various decorative colours and can be mounted in no time at all.