Simple DIY poster frame

 

I have the easiest little DIY in history for you today! Hands up if you like your DIY’s easy?! ME TOO!

If you’ve been following along with the One Room Challenge, you’ll know that I’ve been working on a makeover of my son’s nursery. Next week is the big reveal! Woohoo!

Want to catch up? Here’s where you can find the before pictures, the mood board and floor plan, and my beginner’s guide to installing wallpaper.

To finish this room off, my plan was to hang a bit of a gallery wall over the dresser. But I have no money. So I had to figure out how to do it on the cheap. Art can be expensive, but a budget-friendly alternative is to use a nice poster and make your own frame for it.

If you haven’t stuck up a poster since the boy band crush of your high-school days, you’ve missed the memo: posters are cool again. You just need a poster frame to make it look all classy-industrial-chic. Because #adulting.

As it so happens, I have a pretty cool world map that has never been displayed and was still sitting rolled-up in its tube. I figured it would be perfect for a little boy’s nursery.

I wanted a casual industrial vibe, so I went with the simplest hanging system in history. Here’s how to do it.

First, you’ll need to purchase some flat timber moulding and cut it just a little longer on each side than the poster you’re hanging. I used red oak, but pine would also do the trick and costs even less. Moulding comes in all sorts of interesting shapes – I chose a flat strip with a pencil-round edge, and had it cut to size at the hardware store.

Next, stain the timber. I used a dark walnut stain. (British Paints “Walnut Brown”.) One coat was enough to bring out the beautiful grain of the wood.

Once it’s dry, give it a coat of clear satin varnish.

Then, simply staple the poster to the back of the timber using a staple gun.

Finally, attach a black cord using more staples.

All done – ready to hang!

I used a clear command adhesive hook to keep all the attention on that gorgeous timber frame and of course the map itself.

It’s a “scratch map“, so you can actually scratch away the countries you’ve visited to reveal colours underneath. Fun, right?!

Told you it was easy! The simplest DIY’s are often the best.

There’s no limit to what you can display using this easy trick. A nice calendar picture, some vintage childrens’ book illustrations, Etsy printables…. use your imagination and I’m sure you’ll come up with a fun way to use this idea in your own home.

I’ll see you back here next week to show you the finished nursery!

 

Linked up at these parties this week!