For months, no wait, years, I had an empty (no backing, no glass front) distressed frame on a wall of my living room.

This frame was one that my friend Meredith found on a street in the LES. When she moved back to NC, I jumped at the opportunity to inherit it, not having any idea how I’d use it. So, for years, this empty frame adorned my wall. My former roommate, Dan, and I liked to claim it held symbolic significance. 

When I recently moved things around my apartment and painted a wall, my empty frame was relocated and again found itself homeless. Upon seeing the chicken wire frame below on the Urban Outfitters website, I became inspired. 

Thus began the search for chicken wire in NYC. After multiple calls to garden and hardware stores in Brooklyn, I found the elusive material at a hardware store on Metropolitan Avenue in Williamsburg. I actually went on my first date with BC carrying chicken wire, birch tree stumps (for a harvest tablescape), a roll of burlap and nine flour sack towels.

The next evening, I started the project slightly later than planned – it was 3am. I also didn’t have garden clippers to cut the chicken wire. But I was determined, one tortuous hour, a little elbow grease and many, many chicken wire cuts later….

Voila! It temporarily hangs proudly on my living room wall… until it will take up permanent residence in my bedroom to house my earring collection.

Looks pretty good, right? I’m just glad to have figured out a way to keep that frame around longer  - and for cheap!