Introduction: Multi Photo Board

We all have a lot of cute pictures laying around in the memory of our computer/cloud account/smartphone, you name it. Even if you do go down the road and order a print of those, chances are you will put them in an album, open it one time... maybe two, then forget about it.

Well, this is where a photo wall can give to your favorite pictures a second life and add some peps to your living room (or your toilets for that matters...)!

This project is a fairly simple one, and you have the opportunity to be really creative by adding some decoration, like a frame all around in wood or lace or... whatever you want!

I will show you the skeleton for this, come with me.

Supplies

  • Wooden board
  • cotton for stuffing
  • short nails, or short staple (shorter that the thickness of the board)
  • decorative nails (regular nails work too)
  • Ribbon for crafting
  • Some fabric
  • decorative metal corners (optional)
  • some tape (to temporary secure the ribbons in place)
  • very basic tools (hammer, or a metal bar like I used here)
  • some hooks to put the frame on the wall, with its counterpart wall side.

Step 1: Adjusting the Fabric to the Board

Put the fabric on the floor, lay the board over it, then just cut the fabric with a generous margin in order to be able to nail the fabric all around on the back side of the board. If you kept too much fabric, you will be able to trim it at the very end, so no need to panic.

Remove the board, then put some cotton on the fabric, using the same surface as the board. cotton rolls are obviously ideal for that, but I had too few so I had to complete with real stuffing cotton (it turned out to be quite successful, but not perfect).

Place the board over it, then start to pull gently the fabric on one side, and nail it on the back side of the board, at around 1 or 2 cm from the edge. nails are fine, staples are best. Do it all around. My advice is to start with two opposite sides, to assure an even repartition of the tension (especially if your fabric is a little bit elastic).

Step 2: Add the Ribbons, Nail It in Place

Now comes the ribbons, here if you want a 45 deg angle for it and finish the ribbons neatly in every corners, the size of your board matters : the X size has to be a multiple of the Y size. For example, my board was 900 x 300mm, and 900 is 3x300, I was good to go! But really, any size should be usable, plus maybe you don't want 45 degrees for you ribbons.... You are in charge for this choice!

Once you found your pattern for the ribbons, you can secure those in place with tape. Return the board, then nail the ribons on the board : if you chose to go with the ribbons coming together on the border of the wood plank (like I did), you can nail 2 ribbons with one nail on the border of the board. In any case, you will need to nail those one more time on the back side of the board.

Then add the decorative nails on the intersections, this will form the sofa-like inflated pattern, pretty cool!

Now you can add the decorative corners, framing, ribbon all around the border, whatever you want!

Step 3: Put It on the Wall

Here you will have to use whatever works best for your type of walls.

I have plaster boards, so I used specialized nailed hooks to do that. On the board side, anything would do... really. For instance I salvaged those metal parts from a cheap photoframe that was in a very bad shape.

If you have a wooden wall, 2 holes on your frame (half way!) and 2 nails on the wall is by far the easiest method.

You can also use a ribbon nailed on the 2 upper corners and hang it.

Step 4: Enjoy Your Work!