Rustic Frame with Conchos

Old wood from old barns and buildings, which included red and white oak, was used for the cabinetry in our kitchen remodel. This wood is dense, heavy and very strong.


The kitchen crew rebuilt some of our cabinet doors, so in this project I'm using the cabinet door reject scraps. Since the cabinet door frames had this groove on it for panels, I thought it would be perfect for making picture frames or mirrors.

I cut off half of the groove on the table saw to create a place for a picture or mirror. I cut the boards to make a 16" x 20" opening. The outside dimension of the finished frame is 20" x 24".

My plan was a rustic looking turquoise color and add large 2 1/4" conchos to the corners and center 3 3/4" silver clavos on each side.

I glued it together and nailed it with a brad nail gun on the edges at the corners and used a staple gun on the back corners.

This would look good with a coat of polyurethane, but I wanted to experiment with a bright and rustic look.

I painted the base coat an acrylic dark grey and let it dry.

Next, I painted a turquoise color called Patina and let it dry. Then with the orbital sander and 320 grit sand paper I sanded for the desired look. In some areas the paint was completely sanded off.

I measured how deep the concho with screw would go into the wood and taped the bit, so I wouldn't drill a hole all the way through the frame. I used a 7/64" bit for this hole. For the barrel on the concho to fit into the wood I drilled a 21/64" hole about an 1/8" deep on top of the smaller hole.

The wood is 3/4" thick and the clavos nail is a little longer so I cut them off. I drilled a pilot hole for the clavos.

The finished frame with conchos and clavos.

Here's a close-up to show the detail of the painting technique.

The easiest part is to add a photo, painting or mirror to complete the rustic look!