Stripey Frames: A Workshop
Our lovely team in our Stockbridge Showroom hosted a sold-out workshop that left everyone buzzing with creativity. The theme? Upcycling and repurposing to create beautiful, colourful frames that add a splash of joy to any home.
Jul '24
Last week, our lovely colleagues Cat and Claire in the Stockbridge Showroom hosted a sold-out workshop that left everyone buzzing with creativity. The theme? Upcycling and repurposing to create beautiful, colourful frames that add a splash of joy to any home.
Upcycling involves taking something old or unused and transforming it into something new and valuable. It's a fantastic way to reduce waste, save money, and create unique, personalised items for your home. The workshop focused on creating playful and striped picture frames using unique colour combinations, but any leftover sample pots or paint from your home can work well too.
Materials:
- Old wooden picture frames (charity shops or your attic are great places to find these)
- Undercoat
- Good quality masking tape
- Sample pots or any leftover chalky emulsion paint
- Paintbrushes
- Sandpaper
- Clear wax
Step 1: Preparation
Start by giving your old picture frames a good cleaning. Remove any dust or grime with sugar soap. If the frames are painted or varnished, use sandpaper to roughen up the surface slightly to help the undercoat adhere better.
Step 2: Choose Your Colour Palette
Select your colour scheme. We recommend choosing two colours per frame for the best results.
Step 3: Masking Out Your Design
Once your undercoat has dried, mask out your design using good quality masking tape. Use a ruler to keep your stripes equal or play with scale but try to keep the frame symmetrical. Depending on whether your frame is smooth or has ridges, use this to your advantage. If your frame is wide enough, you can alternate the stripe on the second level to create a checkerboard effect.
Step 4: Begin Painting
Start painting your first colour all around your frame, alternating between the masked sections. Wait for it to dry between coats. A hair dryer can be handy if you're a little impatient. Once the first colour is dry, remove the masking tape and reapply it on top of the dried first paint colour to keep the lines crisp. Repeat with your second colour.
Step 5: Finishing Touches
Once all the paint is dry and the masking tape is removed, apply a clear wax to protect and seal your design. Add a photograph or artwork and find the perfect spot to display your new frame.
These frames look especially good as a collection, especially when you use a variety of frame sizes and thicknesses. Have a bit of fun with it and don't be afraid to mix and match different colours.
Cat and Claire's workshop was a testament to the power of creativity and the joy of making something beautiful out of the ordinary. We hope this DIY project inspires you to try your hand at upcycling and bring a touch of handmade charm into your home.
There is a particular kind of joy in taking a room you see every day and making it feel entirely new. It is a feeling that sits at the heart of our Colour Forecast 2026, and one we wanted to explore through a real transformation.
For this bathroom project, we partnered with Matt Hatt, whose playful, hands-on approach captures the pleasure of decorating from first idea to final reveal. Known for his theatrical touch and his instinct for pairings that are daring yet considered, Matt brings real warmth and personality to everything he touches.
His brief was one many will recognise: to bring personality and cohesion to a main bathroom that, while structurally sound with its subway tiles, black grout and classic fittings, felt out of step with the rest of his Victorian home. The space called for a palette that could honour its period character while introducing something confident and true to himself.
From the four curated palettes within Colour Forecast 2026, Matt was drawn to Timeless, a collection that pairs the elegance of heritage tones with the boldness to reinvent a room, grounded throughout by warm, enveloping neutrals
A Lifelong Love of Transformation
Ever since I was young I've enjoyed transforming the environment around me. I was one of those kids that would go up to my room, and spend all day, on my own, listening to music trying out new combinations before inviting my mum in for a 'Changing Room' style reveal. Always had a flair for the dramatics.
That feeling of making something you see everyday feel completely new has stayed with me, through the many flats I've rented over the years, to my first home that I bought 3 years ago with my boyfriend. Playing with colour and pattern and leaning into the joy of decorating.
Expert Knowledge, Distilled
As a self-taught interior 'creator', I'm always looking for tricks or expert knowledge that I can use in my transformations. Craig and Rose's Colour Forecast is just that, the brand's expert knowledge distilled down into 4 feelings you want and need your room to be in 2026.
The Room That Needed Warmth
Our main bathroom had been on my to do list for a while, the core of it was good, subway style tiles with black grout, a giant fitted bathroom cupboard, a classic white sink, but it lacked warmth, felt out of kilter with the rest of the house.
Why Timeless Stood Out
The Timeless immediately stood out, as they felt to me like they combined the elegance of colours that would suit my Victorian home with the boldness to create a whole new look, and the warmth through the neutrals I was craving.
Knowing that Craig and Rose had done all the hard work for me, and that any combination of beautiful colours from the palette would work helped me to be so decisive when choosing my colours.
Making It My Own
It left me more time to add some creativity into application, and use of colour. Paint is a hugely powerful way to change a space entirely, and by using some decorating tape and following the steps of the useful guide on painting the perfect stripes I now have the bathroom my Victorian home deserves. (Painting Perfect Stripes: A Step-by-Step Guide by Craig & Rose) I have achieved a real stand out space that makes me smile everyday. I adore the warmth of Mallord on the walls and ceiling, Papyrus and Oriental Red on the bath and cabinets, and pops of the energising Smalt on skirtings.
Looking Back
I think 12-year old Matt would be quite chuffed with how far we've come in our transformation skills.
Matt Hatt
The Bathroom a Victorian Home Deserves
With the hard work of colour selection already done, Matt was free to focus on the details that make a space personal, using decorating tape and a steady hand to bring striking painted stripes to life. The result is a bathroom that feels warm, characterful and entirely his own, from the depth of Mallord on the walls and ceiling to the pops of energising Smalt along the skirtings. It is a fitting reminder that, with the right palette to guide the way, a considered transformation can be as enjoyable to create as it is to live with.
His brief was one many will recognise: to bring personality and cohesion to a main bathroom that, while structurally sound with its subway tiles, black grout and classic fittings, felt out of step with the rest of his Victorian home. The space called for a palette that could honour its period character while introducing something confident and true to himself.
From the four curated palettes within Colour Forecast 2026, Matt was drawn to Timeless, a collection that pairs the elegance of heritage tones with the boldness to reinvent a room, grounded throughout by warm, enveloping neutrals
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