In the pictures in the post I did on Saturday, you’ll notice these. They are in the first picture… right hand corner…did you find them? Pretty soon you are going to know this home inside and out!
You know when you go in to have your family pictures taken and they take 100 shots of your kids and you want all but two? I am that way…I am blessed to have Missy as a friend. I don’t know if she’ll agree with me though because every spring and fall I beg her to take my family pictures….and then I pay her in vinyl lettering.
But I guess it’s her fault…if she didn’t take such wonderful pictures I wouldn’t have to get all 98 poses of each kid. I can’t make up my mind.
So needless to say, there are a lot of pictures in my home, and especially in my family room. Pictures need to be loved. They need to be displayed, but lets face it, frames are expensive. Especially when the craft stores don’t have coupons out!
So when I saw this decor in my sister’s family room I had to try it!
On with classic clean ways of displaying a picture for under $1! YAY!
Great Family Room Decorating
or kitchen decorating, or kid’s room, or den, or bedroom. You get the point.
I have done it a couple ways and one worked and one didn’t. I’ll lead you the right way:) Hint: Don’t use the dollar store foam core!
Grab some foam core from anywhere, but the dollar store. I don’t have anything against the dollar store, they just don’t have the kind that works well.
You’ll need the kind with a shiny side. The matte sides will only suck up the spray glue and you’ll be left with bubbly pictures. I. know. You can get 4 8×10 pictures out of one foam core poster size. I saw them at the office supply store for around $3/sheet. So that’s where I get my math from…one picture under a dollar. SWEET!
So lay the foam core out on a table. Make sure to put something under the foam core so you don’t cut the table. I used an ugly piece of card board….don’t worry…you’ll get the chance to see it:) Line your picture up on a corner so you only have to cut 2 sides. Make it simple! Trace around the edges of the picture.
Use your box cutter, exacto knife, sharp cutting object to slice through the foam core. A couple tips:
1. Make sure the blade is sharp {{or the foam core will bugger up}}
2. Use a straight edge. I used a piece of metal from a magnet board. It worked dandy! My husband said I could have saved time and used the metal ruler we had, but he forgot to tell me that before I took the magnet board apart.
Nice cutting
Here’s the big reveal of the ugly card board. Use a craft bond spray to coat the board.
Cover the entire board with spray glue. One time I thought I was going to be ‘thrifty’ and save on the craft glue so I just did the edges…it didn’t work. The center bubbled and the picture was ruined. Dang it! Sometimes thriftiness costs me more!
Place your picture on the sprayed side and flatten your picture. Rub out any bubbles. Use a pan scraper, credit card or a vinyl rubber applicator to help smooth out the bumps. Do it now or you’ll be sorry. Missy said, “You should put gloves on or use a dry wash cloth when touching the picture, or you will get finger prints and the acid in your hand will make the picture not last as long.”
So the pictures are all done. Now where to stick them. Place on a mantel in your family room, glue ribbon down the back side and hang from a ribbon. I have one like that in my bathroom, but the lighting is bad so I didn’t include a picture.
I had some plate holders that I got last year for about $1. I know…iron rod plate holders for $1. Well I found out the reason they were $1 is that if you stick a plate in them they will tip over. Great construction and bad design. Until….
Wala. Hang them from a screw.
Three of them.
Easy Family Room Decorating!
Here are more ideas for decorating with pictures Four Dollar Store Frames, 2×4’s to My Favorite Things, classify your family motto with thefloating fame tutorial.
We are linking up to these parties
Jill says
I love decorating with my kids pictures! This will make it so much easier and cheaper! Your children are beautiful BTW!
TidyMom says
What a CUTE idea!!
.-= TidyMom´s last blog ..I Heart Faces – "Play" =-.
Andrea Leland says
What a great idea! I have so many pictures of my kids and I am always looking for a new way to display them. Frames get old fast 🙂
.-= Andrea Leland´s last blog ..Homemade Watercolor Paints =-.
Angie Smith says
Great idea!
Camie says
This is fabulous! We’re getting ready to re-paint the family room and this will be a fantastic way to display the many, many photos still in boxes. Thank You!!
Jacque says
Just adorable!
Mary Joy @ Snapshots from my Heart & Home says
That is awesome!!! I was just thinking about how to use pictures of our family in the living room without having to buy a bunch of frames!!! Thank you SO much!!! What a terrific idea!!!
.-= Mary Joy @ Snapshots from my Heart & Home´s last blog ..Leaving Blogland for a while…I would really appreicate your prayers! =-.
Missy says
I LOVE how you have pics of your kids all over – so fun. This is such a good idea!
Tammy Moore: Mama Bear Stamps says
Very cool! I love the look of plate racks but don’t collect plates, so I didn’t have a way to use them! 🙂 Thanks!
.-= Tammy Moore: Mama Bear Stamps´s last blog ..NEW, WOW, and Can’t Wait! =-.
Carrie Johnson says
This is such a great idea. In fact, you could hold several pictures on one rack and just swap them out. This is definitely going on my To Do List. Quick and easy and you don’t have to buy a ton of frames.
Lauren says
Where did you get the cute iron rod plate holders. Thanks for the cute idea!
Alison says
Rod Works down in Utah:)
cherylene says
great idea! I think I’ll try this one in the new “piano” room…but I maybe will just put their 8×10 in there and try laying one on top of the other…that way I can just pull down each kiddos and thumb through them and change the look frequently.
.-= cherylene´s last blog ..Piping Icing =-.
Charisse says
I love this idea! And it came at the right time; i have been itching to change my pictures of my kids but i wanted to put them in bigger frames but money had a limit and i couldn’t find the frames i wanted to the price i wanted. Anyway this is brilliant. thanks this will look great.
Amy says
Oo La La – love the new look of your blog!
Suzette says
Thanks, love this! And I love the suggestions about switching the pics out. There are so many cute ones and not enough wall space.
Nancy from OHIO says
Love this! Going to do this with some shots of my garden and hang in family room. My kids are all big and do not pose easily for pictures! Nancy from OHIO
Hear Mum Roar says
What an absolutely brilliant idea! I love bang for your buck..
.-= Hear Mum Roar´s last blog ..Trial to make SRE time fairer for non religious students =-.
meghan says
Im so copying this!
.-= meghan´s last blog ..It’s giveaway time!!!!!!!!!!!! ~WOO!!~ =-.
Laura Ingalls Gunn says
What an amazing transformation! You are so clever!
Pegg says
Oh, this will be great. I’m on a quest to finally get some pictures of the kids on the walls. (They are now 19 and 13). Too many frames will break the budget and this I can do pretty easily and do some enlargements, etc. I wish I had that $1 plate holders, too. Oh well, I might find something else in my travels! Thank you!!!!!