Hesitant Handyman Builds - DIY Photo & Card display...
My wife and I love when we get Christmas cards, especially the ones that include a family photo. We have whole stacks of them where we can go and look at how much a friend’s family changes over the years. Once mushy little toddlers transform into teenagers, and parents faces transform with more experience. (That’s a polite way of saying gray, coming from someone who is probably not far from getting his first from his toddler. =)
In the past, we would display these on our fridge, however there’s one problem–our current fridge doesn’t have any magnetic surface on the front, so the only place we’ve been able to store them is on the side, which is a) a fairly small area once the counter and cabinets are accounted for and b) a terrible pain when the magnets fall off and you’re trying to fish the cards from between the counter and the fridge.
Coincidentally, we also have a spot next to our front door that lacked any sort of decor. Literally, it was a blank wall next to the window next to the front door. Because of this, I wanted to build something that would give us a space to display the cards in a less cramped, more appealing display. I also wanted it to tie in with our entry wall, so my design team wife picked her favorite Varathane stain from our entry wall project to go onto the new piece.
It’s a simple build, but we really love how it turned out. Here’s what we did:
Lumber Requirements:
Cut list:
- 1×4 – 32″ (7)
- 1×2 – 24″ (4)
Other Materials:
- Eye screws (Size will depend on the thickness of string you use)
- Hanging hardware
- Twine
- Binder clips
- Wood Glue
- Cricut Vinyl (Optional)
Tools:
- Saw (I utilized my Ryobi 10″ Sliding Miter saw, but in the absence of a miter you can use a table saw or a circular saw)
- Kreg Pocket Hole Jig
- Brad nailer
- Cricut Explore Air Wireless Cutting Machine(Optional)
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The build:
Step 0: Cut the lumber
I list this as step 0 because the fact that I put a cut list up above makes the assumption that you should have gotten the lumber cut before you started building . In case you somehow overlooked that (you’re smart, so I’m assuming you’d just know to cut your lumber), here’s your cue. If you read this far and didn’t need me to give you permission to cut the lumber, I present you with a quote from woodworking legend Ron Swanson:
“No, the wood does not taste like a cherry. You cannot eat it.”
Step 1: Assemble the frame
The frame itself is pretty simple–I pocket holed the 1x2s together in something that roughly resembled the side profile of one of those large wooden spools. The 1×2 can only take a single pocket hole screw, so you might consider adding some glue and letting it dry so that the frame can’t spin on the single screw. Worth noting, though, once you’ve put the face on it, the glue’s a moot point, so it’s entirely up to you if you want to do it that way.
Step 2: Add the face
You can either stain the boards beforehand and touch up any scuffs (which was my method, primarily because I hate getting stain into the tiny cracks between the boards), or you can wait until it’s assembled and then stain it. In either case, assembly will require you first to decide how you want the face to look. My wife and I opted to go with the boards offset so the finished product isn’t just a big square. If you want to modify it because you like your geometry more plain, it’s a pretty easy change to make. In either case, I put some wood glue on the frame, placed the face pieces down in the pattern I wanted, then drove 18 gauge brad nails in to secure them in place. You could potentially skip the wood glue, but I wanted to add a little extra stability to the piece.
Step 3: Add hanging hardware
On the back side, I added a set of D-rings to the sides of the frame then strung picture wire between them. This is just the way I hung these, there are other options out there that could work better. (I recently saw some pretty neat hardware from Hangman Products that my friend Lizzy from the House of Timber is now using. Comes complete with bubble levels and some fairly foolproof hanging mechanisms. I’m getting some samples from them soon and will definitely update you once I’ve had the chance to try them out!)
Step 4 – Add card hanging rig
This is where things get fun. (Well–hopefully they were fun before this, but I really enjoyed this part of the project!) My wife had a general idea of how she wanted the cards to hang, almost like an old timey clothesline, only instead of clothespins we’d use binder clips. The idea was to string them back and forth across the board with a few clips on each pass. This required me to figure out placement for the eye screws, then thread the twine across them in such a way that the cards wouldn’t overlap once hung.
Once I’d added the eye hooks to the board, it was a matter of stringing the twine across them while also adding the binder clips. The binder clips I used were a Tim Holtz branded one, but these can be found and basically any office supply store. I used a specific knot whose name I cannot remember to make the clips lay flat on the board and also to prevent them from sliding down to the lower end of the twine. I demonstrate the knot and how I did it in the below video if you want to see what I did.
Step 5 – Finishing Touches
Amanda made a vinyl cutout on her Cricut that was applied to the top of ours. This is clearly not the only way you can finish these, you could do hand painting if you’re so inclined, but for what we had in mind on this piece, it was absolutely going to be the vinyl from the get go. And we really love how it turned out!
Disclaimer: Most DIY projects involve risk of some sort. Your tools, materials, and skills will vary, as will the conditions at your project site. The Hesitant Handyman has made every effort to be complete and accurate in the instructions provided on this content. The Hesitant Handyman will not assume any responsibility or liability for damages or losses sustained or incurred in the course of your project or in the use of the item you create. Always follow the manufacturer’s operating instructions in the use of tools, check and follow your local building codes, and observe all commonly accepted safety precautions.
