DIY | photo board

I am a "documenter" by nature. Photography, writing, saving notes & euphemera, I can't help it. I want my children to be able to look back & get a sense of who their young parents were before they were parents, of how we lived when drove old cars & didn't own an extra freezer, of how loved they were from the beginning. So I take photos. Lots of photos. 

But I am absolutely awful at getting prints of them. And I'm even worse at displaying them. Which is a shame. What's the point of taking the photos if they're never brought out & enjoyed? So I've tried different projects to display them easily. Because if it isn't easy, I won't do it! I have really good intentions of switching photos out of frames, but I don't. Here's one project Dar & I just made together that I think will keep me switching up the photos because it is so easy to!

It was such a quick, simple project, and as long as you know how to use a drill & a hammer (or meat tenderizer, cough, cough), you could make this, too. 

It only takes a handful of things: an old barn board, some metal clips, & hanging hardware, a few screws, a drill, a hammer, & some nails to hang the final product. 

I had Dar dig around in the shop for me (he's such a dear) for some old wood. He found this piece from the days when they raised onions & stored them in big wooden boxes. They marked their boxes with their name, & you better believe I snatched this chunk of wood up! Such nostalgia! I love that this photo display has some history behind it. Dar just shakes his head at me sometimes, but humors my galloping after the current rustic chic trend. Like I said, he's a dear. 

I bought the metal clips at Michael's & the picture hangers at Lowe's. The clips were only $2.50 with my 40% off coupon (never leave home without it!) & I can't remember how much the picture hangers were, but they can't be that much.

I had Dar cut my board to three feet, & because he was helping me, I actually measured out where I wanted my clips. (Confession: I don't measure. I eyeball. Every time. Drives him batty.) So, I measured in 4 inches on each side, and then my clips were each 7 inches apart. I placed them 3/4 of an inch down from the top of the board. He had to bend the front part of the clip out in order to drill the screw in, but we were able to just bend them back when we were done, & it worked great.

Then I hammered in two picture hangers on the back. With a meat tenderized because I couldn't find my hammer. (My tenderizer's been a hammer way more often than a tenderizer...) I didn't measure these because Dar wasn't around, but I'm sure you can find a nice measureable placement.

Then pound a couple nails in and voila! Done. Clip in some current photos & sit back & enjoy.

I like to think because it is mind-blowingly easy to switch out photos, I will. We'll see, though:). And Fiona loves loves loves to look at photos. Her first phrase was, "Whozzat?" accompanied by the sweetest little finger pointing. She was a big fan of this project & loves to sit on the table when I'm working there & look at the photos.

It makes my heart happy to think that she's learning the faces of her far away cousins & aunts & uncles!