Framing It

Last April was the last time I was here in Delray Beach.  I went to a street fair and purchased a lovely print titled Delray Affair 2014.  I hastily tacked it to the wall with a promise that next time I was here, I would go to a frame shop and do right by it.  So here I am, in Delray again.  But the economist in me says that, despite the fact that framers have to make a living, I cannot afford to support them.  Sad but true.

So today, I went off to my favorite haunts.  Places with names like Habitat Restore and Good Will.  Although I did not find the furniture piece that I was searching for, I did find a large framed print that would serve my purposes.  I paid my $15.90 and went home with my treasure.

The print that I bought was awful.  Washed out, nostalgic, pedestrian.  But it wasn't the print that I'd paid for.  I wanted the frame.  It was a bit scratched, so I got out my reliable Annie Sloan Chalk Paint (white) and got to work.  When it was dry, I polished the glass and inserted my Delray Affair 2014 print.  A molly and a screw into the wall, and my framed print was in place.  I love it.

Okay, so the colors are off and the flash kind of messes it up, but trust me, my $15.90 frame looks pretty darn good compared to the $200 or so I would have spent at a frame shop.  And I helped to support Habitat for Humanity.  It's all good.

Because it's all in how you frame it.  You can call me cheap, but I can counter that with the truth that where I shop says a lot about who I am.  I want to support businesses that make a difference.  It is the reason that I will not shop at WalMart, where the richest family in America cannot pay its workers a decent wage or provide them with health insurance.  They will, however, expect their underpaid workers to spend their food stamps at WalMart stores, where the food is cheap and unhealthy.

So today, I supported Habitat for Humanity instead.  They're happy, I'm happy, and my print is happy.  It's all in how you frame it.  I framed it with love.