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I really thought I could finish this project in two posts, but didn’t finish last night. I need another day to finish, but I will show you the progress and what I have to do to finish mounting and framing my large print of our landscape design.
At the end of the last post, I finished building a large hammock wood panel on the wall. And since it was huge and needed two pieces of plywood to cover it, I used drywall tape and clay to cover the joint where the two pieces of plywood meet.
I had to do a total of three coats of plasterboard clay, sanding fine after each coat dried.
Then I rolled on two coats of white paint, sanding with 150-grit sandpaper between coats and after the second coat.
With the plywood panel prepared, I was ready to start on the frame. I used a 1″ x 4″ piece of wood 2.5 inches wide on my table saw. I cut these pieces 1/4 inch longer than the dimensions of the plywood panel, to give some wiggle room, and I smoothed the corners with my miter saw. Then I assembled the frame pieces by gluing and nailing the corners together with 1.5-inch 16-gauge nails in my nail gun. I started with the top piece and the piece on the right side.
At this point I did not nail these pieces to the plywood panel. The frame pieces are simply nailed together at the mitred corners.
Next I added the frame piece on the left side. Again, this time, it is simply nailed to the top frame piece at the mitred corners.
Finally, I added the bottom part. Again, this time, I just glued and nailed it to the side frame pieces at the mitered corners.
After the frame was assembled, I went back and nailed the cradle to the wood panel edges, but I took my time with this. If you scroll back and look at the picture of the frame before I attached the bottom piece, you’ll notice that the right side frame piece is bent. That’s just the nature of some pieces of wood. As I nailed the frame pieces to the panel, I took my time, used my bubble level, and even used a small 6-inch prybar as a temporary spacer between the panel and the frame before shooting each nail into the frame. I wanted to make sure I ended up with a straight frame instead of a bold frame. I took my time and used the process both ways. And just like I planned, I have a 1/8-inch gap on each side between the panel and the frame.
With the basic frame on, I was ready to add the original landscape design print. I started by getting it in place using these huge thumbtacks I just had on hand.
It took some patience to get such a large print squared up in the frame, but I finally got it where I wanted it.
I weighed several different options for adhering the print to the panel, but in the end, I decided that wallpaper paste was the fastest, easiest, and least messy option. This is my favorite wallpaper paste. I bought it at Sherwin Williams.
I started at the top and worked my way down. I removed the top tacks and exposed the panel about 1/3 of the way down, letting the print slide forward gently and making sure it didn’t crease down.
Then using a 6-inch roller, I rolled wallpaper paste onto the panel, then pressed the print onto the glued panel. I started by pressing straight up in the center of the print.
Then I pressed the sides towards the edges/top from the same place as shown below.
After the top 1/3 was done, I put the large tack back on top so the print wouldn’t shift as I worked on the bottom 2/3 of the print. Next, I removed the rest of the tacks and rolled the print from the bottom up, rolling the paste to the center 1/3 of the panel and smoothing the print the same way to the center 1/3 of the print. Top 1/3 done, except I’m smoothing the print in the opposite direction.
And then finally, I did the bottom 1/3 by lifting the print (not enough to roll without creasing this time), rolling the paste to the bottom 1/3 of the panel, then smoothing the rest. Print down on paste.
I smoothed every 1/3 of the print with my hands and before moving on to the next section, I used a plastic drywall knife to smooth the print to make sure I wasn’t leaving any bubbles. But since I was working with a print on glossy paper and not wallpaper with a wine coating, I wrapped the edge of a drywall knife in a very soft cloth and pushed it against the print so I didn’t scratch it.
Any time I use wallpaper paste, I always have at least one bubble that I can’t push to the edge. So to get rid of that bubble (or bubbles), I use a straight pin (the kind used when sewing) like this…
And I push the pin through the center of the bubble, making sure it goes through the wallpaper (or print, in this situation)…
Then I push all the air in the bubble out through the pinhole. It works every time and no one sees that pinhole.
So where is the project as of this morning. Now I need to finish adding the decorative trim that will make the frame look nicer and cover those gaps, wood filling, caulking, priming and painting.
This thing is huge, and I love how it looks on the wall! And just for reference, I’m five feet tall and I got to this point in print.
I will do my best to finish today. I add different decorative trims to complete the frame. It’s not hard, but I often underestimate how much I can get done in a day. 😀 But hopefully, I’ll be back tomorrow with a finished project.
Addicted 2 Decorating shares my DIY and decorating journey as I renovate and decorate the 1948 Fixer Upper that my husband, Matt, and I purchased in 2013. Matt has MS and is unable to do physical activity, so I do most of the housework myself. You can learn more about me here.