IKEA Hack – Custom Art

DIY, Offices

May 13th, 2021

I bought 4 beautiful botanical prints from the Christie Antique Show a few years and decided to hang them in the one corner of my home office as it needed some love. There was a problem though…the prints were an awkward size and none of the standard frames or mats would work with the prints!

One of my secrets to custom art is buying inexpensive frames and getting a custom mat from a local framing studio. I usually pay around $30 for each mat but it is worth it if the mat that came with the frame wasn’t working with what I wanted to frame. I decided to take this trick to the next level but customizing my own mats at home!

Before

I purchased 4 frames from IKEA and a mat cutter ( I bought this one by Logan ) .

I started by watching this video on the Logan website:

The video makes it look so easy!!! What could go wrong?!

So with a ruler and using a tape measure, I drew a 4 lines on the mat with pencil BUT I drew these lines closer to the opening. They weren’t the final placement because I wanted to practice first! Well, I tried following all of the steps and it wasn’t working. The mats were still good because they were practice lines!

I was about to give up but then my husband came home, got a piece of wood to help guide the cutter and it worked for him!

I think you need stronger hands, you need to place a lot of pressure on the cutter!

It worked for all 4 frames and I’m very happy! I paid $12.99 x 4 and the art cost maybe $20.

After

They fit in perfectly in my home office!

Let me know if you have any questions! I will definitely do this again, saves a lot of money and time!