Wood Photo Board DIY

We just moved into a new house a couple of months ago, and in the transition, my oldest got her own room. She is beyond thrilled, and we have been working to decorate it cute and make it hers. She loves the color turquoise, and she loves photography, so I thought it would be fun to make her a wood photo board that she can hang on her wall and keep her favorite photos from our adventures on. I had her help me make it because I wanted her to learn how to do it, and also because I love spending time with my kids and teaching them new things. We both love how it turned out and I wanted to share it with you.

We took a 1”x 4”x 96” board and cut it into (6) 16” boards. The final dimensions of the photo board will be about 24″ W by 16″ L. I did the cutting on our miter saw and then my daughter helped me sand each one with our BLACK+DECKER Multi Sander. Make sure there are no rough edges and you can bevel them a little if you want that. Once they are sanded, you are going to paint the boards. I used newspaper on my table and put two rocks (one on each end) under the boards to keep them up so I could paint the whole board (except for a small strip in the back). I just used craft paint (Apple Barrel Turquoise color), but you can spray paint them as well. We did our boards all one color because we are going to use color accents, but you can mix and match or do them all different. It will be fun to choose!

Now you have your boards cut and sanded and painted, we are going to drill the holes for the wire. I have an amazing BLACK+DECKER project tool kit that I got with everything I needed for this and many other projects. I used a 7/64″ drill bit and the 20V Lithium Drill and drilled one hole in each corner. When the first board was done, I put that board on top of the second board, and used the already drilled holes to mark the drill spots on the bottom board so the match. (see picture above). I did this for all of the boards. You can use one board for the “marker” board, or switch them as you go.

Once you get all of the holes drilled, we are going to do a little more sanding.  I just sanded the edges and corners, and little bit on the front of each one, to add a little more depth to the wood by giving it a disstressed look.

Now you are ready to attach the boards together.

To attach the boards, I took wire and wrapped it between each board three times going through the holes, and securing it in the back. This will make it stronger. I did the top and bottom of each board before moving onto the next one, but you can do all of the top, then flip it and do all of the bottom. Whatever is easiest for you.

After the boards were all secured, I added wire to the ends so I could hang it. I again wound the wire three times (I just used my fingers to hold the open end and pull the wires evenly. Then I took the loose end and wrapped it around the loops and then secured it on the back as you can see in the picture above. Once this is done on both sides, you are ready to hand the wire with the binder clips that will hold the photos, then we can decorate the board. We are almost done!

I didn’t put anything between the binder clips because I couldn’t find the bag of beads I had bought, but it would add some fun to the board, so if you can, don’t forget. To attach the binder clips, take a long piece of wire (I would say roughly double the size of the board) and attach it at one end. Then you will take and slide the binder clips on the wire, then loop the wire over it again to secure it in place. Do this all the way across until you have the clips in place, then secure the loose end to the other side of the board.

Now we get to decorate the board. We used a large beautiful silk flower that we found and secured it to the board with super glue. We also added some rub-on’s and letters and decals. We used our Canon PIXMA printer to print out the fun pictures that we added to the board. I love how they turned out! It looks amazing with the high quality photos and the colors and decorations she chose!

I hope this inspires you to get out and create something fun and customize it to your taste. Build it with your kids, family or friends and just have fun! I have a feeling I am going to be making a few more of these for my other kids! They turned out great.

This post is brought to you by BLACK+DECKER and Canon. All opinions are my own.