How to Frame Decorative Tiles for Wall Art

I’ll show you how you can create unique wall art by making a DIY frame for decorative tiles to use in your home décor!

Have you ever walked past tiles in a thrift store or a curios shop and wondered how you would use them in your home décor?  Maybe you even admired the trendy patterned tiles at the hardware store? 

My Mother- and Father-in-law gave us these two tiles; they bought the one while on tour in Israel.  We really wanted to use them together for wall art in our kitchen and decided to frame them together.  The good news is that it is relatively easy to frame decorative tiles!  You do not need to take them to professional framers; I’ll show you how.

Supplies Needed to Frame Decorative Tiles

• Your decorative tiles
• Hardboard or plywood to use as backing
• Ready-to-use frame profiles, or slats of timber that you can use as frames and a router.  We used slats we had on hand and cut out a frame profile with a router. 
• Wood glue
• Soft furniture wax or paint – depending on your preference of how you would like to finish the frame.  We opted for a natural look and sealed the frames with wax.
• No-more-nails tape

The best thing about this DIY is that we already had everything on hand!

How to make the frame for your decorative tiles

If you are using two or more decorative tiles, the measuring will always be a little tricky.  This is the process we used, and it should help you to figure it out:

1. Start by cutting the slat that goes in between the tiles.  It should be as long as the tiles are wide, minus the routed profile that will go over your tile.  We routed our middle slat on both sides. 
2. Now cut two slats in 45° angles to make the first corner.  Use these as the top and left side frames.
3. Hold the tiles in place with the top, left and middle slats in place.  Mark the length of your top and left slats, and cut them at 45° angles.
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 for your bottom and right frame profile.

Now that you have all the frame pieces cut and ready, measure the frame size and cut your backing accordingly.

Assembly

We put the frames in place on the backing hardboard.  We did not attach the tiles to the backing; the frame profile is sufficient to hold them secure.  If the tiles you are using is larger or heavier, I would advise you to attach the tiles to the backing board with no-more-nails tape – but measure carefully before you fix it to the backing.

With the tiles roughly in place, we applied wood glue to the back of the frame profiles and placed them on the backing.  Adjust them till they are in the right position while the glue is still wet.  Put pressure on top of the frames until the glue has dried.  Now you can lightly sand all around to make sure you don’t have any uneven spots on the frame and sides.

Now you can wax or paint the frame.  If you are using paint, be sure to cover the frames with painter’s tape to be sure that you don’t get any paint on them.  After that, we mounted it to the wall with no-more-nails tape.

Admire

Although it took some time to figure out the measurements for the frames and do the project, this was such an easy project.  We love how the two tiles look together, and I admire it every time I see it. 

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My brain has been working overtime on wall art lately, and if you need more inspiration, you can look at this post where I list eight ways to create inexpensive wall art and this project where I transformed thrifted frames with contact paper.

Until next time, take care & stay safe!

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