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I told you in a previous post how a very kind and generous reader offered to print my landscape design plan for me and she had the ability to print it large. So I made her a very generous offer and printed the landscape design 52″W x 78″H. I want you all to see this stuff in person because it’s amazing. But it also presented a dilemma. How in the world was I going to mount and frame such a huge print?
If you’re new here, this is the landscape design I’m talking about…
Matt (my husband) bought that landscape design for me two years ago. I met with a local landscape designer and told him all of my desires and vision for our one acre and that was the design he came up with. I think it’s so beautiful that I’ve wanted to print it and hang it on the wall since the first time I saw it.
Because the print is so large, the easiest thing to do is to mount the print on plywood and then frame and hang it. Super simple, right? So two days ago, I went to Home Depot to pick up a piece of plywood for this project, and it wasn’t until I parked the car and got out of the car that I realized… this thing is 52″ x 78″!! A piece of plywood is only 48″ wide!
So I had to stop and rethink my plan. I basically came up with a plan to build a huge cradle wood panel, which I used to mount my small resin petri discs. It is basically a wooden frame with a solid piece of plywood or MDF attached to the top to form a wooden canvas.
Instead of a tiny 5″ x 5″, it should be about 150 times that size.
And since I always work alone, another thing I need to work on is whether or not I can build this massive hammock wood panel and mount it on the wall myself. As I was only five feet tall, meaning my arm was five feet from fingertip to fingertip, I seriously doubted my ability to lift a 52″ x 78″ cradled wood panel off the floor and hoist it onto the hanger I had decided on. to use. So instead, I decided to build a hammock wood panel directly on the wall.
I started by using my level, framing square, straight edge (ie, extra piece of wood) and pencil to mark the placement of the bottom right corner. I wanted to build it above the baseboard, but as you can see, I had to clear the electrical outlet.
Next, I used a stud finder to locate the placement of the wall studs along the bottom horizontal line.
I cut a piece of 2″ x 2″ lumber to 52″ wide, then used wall markers to mark where to place the studs on the lumber. I pre-drilled the screw holes, then used my largest bit to drill 1/2-inch into the wood so I could countersink my screws and they would be long enough to go into the studs.
I attached that horizontal board to the wall along the marked line using 2.5-inch screws. I used my level to double check that the line was level.
Next, I cut and attached vertical 2″ x 2″ pieces. I didn’t screw these into the wall and I didn’t make sure they were on the studs. Since the weight of these pieces will be held by the bottom horizontal piece, I need to make sure that these pieces are firmly attached to the wall and the bottom. I started nailing through the bottom horizontal piece and up to the end of the vertical pieces using my nail gun and 2-inch 16-gauge nails. I used three nails on each side.
I used my framing square to make sure the pieces were attached together and the vertical pieces were perfectly square with the bottom piece, then nailed the vertical piece to the right side of the wall using the same 2-inch 16-gauge nails. .
Next, I added the top part. It’s screwed into the studs like the bottom part and it’s also nailed to the vertical piece like I did on the bottom corners.
And then finally, I finished by nailing the left vertical part to the wall and the top horizontal part.
To make sure the vertical pieces are tight against the wall, I also went back and added nails going diagonally from the inside edge of the wood and into the wall. Its purpose is to create tension. Because the nails go straight through the front of the wood into the wall, and the nails go diagonally into the wall from the inside edge of the wood, these vertical pieces do not come away from the wall.
Again, the vertical pieces don’t really need to carry the weight because the weight is on the bottom piece, which is screwed into the studs, and the top piece is also screwed into the studs so that it doesn’t pull away from the wall. .
For the face of the hammock wood panel, I had to use two pieces of plywood because, again, the plywood is only 48 inches wide and this panel is 52 inches wide. So where the two pieces of plywood meet I want to add a piece of wood horizontally so that I can nail the edges of the plywood to this piece. I didn’t want to buy another part for this, so I used a scrap that was a few inches shorter in overall width. As long as it is firmly attached to the wall it is not a problem. So I attached it like the vertical pieces, with the nails going straight into the wall from the front and the nails going diagonally through the top and bottom edges and into the wall.
Then I was ready to attach the first piece of plywood. I started with a smaller piece so I could hold it more easily when nailing it to the wood frame.
Then I made the larger piece on top so that I could put the weight of the larger piece on the lower piece when I nailed it.
You will notice that there is a gap between the pieces that is larger on the right side. I checked and double-checked my frame to make sure the corners were perfectly square, so when the second piece of plywood didn’t line up perfectly with the frame, I knew the problem was the plywood. So I had to straighten it around the edges, which created a gap between the two pieces. Such things can happen (and have happened to me many times) when I let Home Depot or Lowe’s cut my plywood for me.
I don’t know exactly what to do about that gap. Does it show through print? Does it create unsightly ripples? I got the print out and took it to the panel to decide how to proceed.
This paper was very thick, but I could still see the difference in color in that gap. And I plan to paint the entire panel white before mounting the print, so leaving a gap isn’t really an option.
So I had to decide how to fill the gap. Caulk didn’t seem like a good choice. I want something that can be sanded fine. But the gap was so wide that wood filler didn’t seem like a reasonable option. Most wood filler not only takes forever to dry, but will undoubtedly crack, requiring multiple coats and many hours of waiting.
The best option I thought was to use drywall tape and clay.
That’s why I left that project. It will probably need at least one coat of drywall soil after I sand what’s in there. (I’m not good at all with plasterboard clay.) Then I prime and paint the panel, then mount the print, and then frame the whole thing.
However, I may choose to attach the print directly to the wall and then use picture frame molding to frame it. I came very close to doing that, but in the end, I felt it didn’t give the print enough emphasis. It makes it look more like wallpaper than a separate piece of framed art. And I think it definitely deserves to be a separate piece of framed art, so make sure it projects a couple of inches from the wall so it looks like it’s mounted on a gallery-wrapped canvas. This print deserves it.
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.