Thursday, January 26, 2012

DIY Wall Photo Montage

I've been wanting to do this project for awhile now, and I finally got around to it!

Here's where I got my inspiration: Pinterest. Bet you didn't see that one coming, did ya?

Now, I'll go ahead and say right now that mine does NOT look like that! Although that would have been nice. I just went for a much simpler/cheaper version.

First, I looked up how much the wire hangers (featured in the link above) would cost.  At IKEA they're about $6 for one line. Assuming I would need 4, I quickly opted for something cheaper. I just so happened to come across (yeah right--I went on a hunt!) some wire at Hobby Lobby. Much cheaper.


As for the clips, I REALLY wanted to go with THESE cute little guys, but at 24 for $4, I opted for the cheaper route and again, Hobby Lobby came through for me with some that were (nearly) as cute.


And at 50 for $2, they were a much better deal!

For the main panels, I went to the ReStore and picked up two matching, dark brown side board panels for a whopping grand total of $1. Big spender, I know.


I got lucky and had some Command Strips left, so mounting the wood on the wall was no biggie. After I measured and decided how long I wanted them to be, I got the help of my amazing boyfriend to cut away on those boogers  boards. They were definitely boards. The boogers was just a silly reference.



Then, I attached the command strips, unstuck the backs, and put 'em up.



They're the kind that 'snap' together, so I went ahead and 'snapped them' so that I could get them hung up correctly on the wall. And then when the deed was done, they just 'unsnapped' so I could attach the wire. Pretty handy, I'd say.





So attaching wire. Fun. NOT. At first, I tried just measuring and snipping, and taping them to the back of the boards. Easy, right? WRONG.


          

The tape actually held pretty well for the cheap stuff. Under normal circumstances I would have opted for hot glue, but I didn't have the option at the time. The problem came when going to re-attach the boards to the wall. Some of the wire I measured incorrectly (bad Jessica) and so when I tried to stretch it, it came undone. After about 10 minutes of trying to fix it and getting frustrated, I went with Plan B.


Yep, that wire got taped right to the wall. And it worked even better that way, too! Plus you can't even see it once the boards are hung up. 



I also re-cut some wires to make them a little bit longer, then wrapped the excess around the tape, seen below. 


Then I added another piece of tape right over that, to sandwich it in there. Not only did it hold better, but it also helped once I started hanging things up. The extra weight of the clips and photos weren't much, but that 'hook' catching on the tape definitely made a difference. 


It was also much easier to adjust and straighten the wires this way. You can see that I left them a tad loose. I wanted it to look more 'rustic' than perfect. 


Next step was to add the clippies. It was pretty easy. They just slipped down over the wire. I put 11 on each line, because I wanted some extra leftover and I wanted them to be alternating, beginning and ending with the same color. I'm just particular like that. I also knew that there was no way 11 pictures would fit on the length I was using, so I wanted some left randomly on the lines for a cuter effect.



Next came the pictures. I honestly just went random. I had a bunch of older pics that I wanted hung up there, so I started with those, leaving 'swirlies' (those are the clips) in between where I wanted them. Some pics even got hung up using one 'swirly' on each corner. Then when I was satisfied, I just popped the boards back on and was done.





Not too bad, right? SO...


What did I like most about this project? Definitely coming across all those pics I forgot I had. Oh, the memories.

What did I like least about this project? That stupid wire. It worked ok, but it was a little too flimsy for my taste.

What would I have done differently? I think I would have liked the boards to have been a tad longer. They're ok though. I just misinterpreted how the photos would hang. I would also have probably gotten a little bit thicker wire.

And as far as the breakdown of prices go:

  • 2 wood panel boards ---------------- $1.00
  • Wire ----------------------------------$2.50
  • Hanging clips--------------------------$2.00
  • Command Strips (already had!) ----- $0
  • Pictures ----------------------------- priceless! haha
          Total --------------------------------- $5.50


So there you have it. Like it? Hate it? Let me know!

No comments: