I know I’m not alone in having a ton of cute photos that just hang out in digital land, largely forgotten. So the idea of having easy, interchangable frames is very appealing to me, and obviously not a novel idea. Some years ago I strung some twine on an open frame and hung pics with clothespins. But it looked a little too disheveled for me.
So I decided to give it another shot with a cleaner, more orderly design. I wanted to be able to hang both portrait and landscape shots, but I didn’t want to mix them since I wanted all of the margins to be the same (like I said, I wanted neat!). So I made two frames, each 18″ x 24″, one for portraits and one for landscapes.
Supplies
1×2
- 2 @ 19.5″ horizontal frame
- 2 @ 24″ vertical frame
- 2 @ 18″ – cleats
- 2 @ 6″ – cleats
18″ x 24″ plywood sheet (I used 3/8″ thick)
Steps
- To construct the frame, drill single pocket holes into the thin side of each of the vertical frame pieces.
- Attach the top and bottom frame pieces with pocket screws. The frame will be will be a little wobbly, but don’t worry, the plywood will shore it right up.
- Attach the 18″ cleats to the top and bottom frames using glue, flush to the back of the frame. Attach the smaller cleats to the vertical frame pieces.
- Finish the frame as desired. I stained mine with Minwax Puritan Pine, then added a couple of coats of polycrylic.
- To get the spacing right, I drew the lines as shown below, then tapped a nail into each intersection to mark the correct spot for each cup hook.
- After marking the spots, finish the plywood as desired. I painted mine white then added a couple of coats of polycrylic.
- Insert the plywood into the frame, gluing it to the cleats.
- Screw the cup hooks into the spots marked in step 4. Hang your cute pics from bulldog clips on the cup hooks, and admire!
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I love this Mari!! You should hold classes where we can come to your house and make these things LOL
What is Polyacrylic? I have spray painted a few wood pieces and was wondering if I should put some sort of Top Coat on them?
Awww thanks Davina! Polycrylic is like polyurethane except its water based, so it’s much easier to use. It’s easy to find wherever you find paints and stains. As for top coats, I think it depends on the piece. I don’t top coat much, especially when using a good paint, but with these I wanted a good top coat because I was worried the white would get scratched up with a lot of use. Thinks like desktops and tables definitely benefit from a top coat… some signs and stuff hanging on the wall… they’re probably fine without one.