Since September I’ve been taking and printing several large portrait photos. The photos are of our grandkids, so I’m particularly proud of them. Being 12″ x 18″ prints, they are relatively expensive to individually frame and require lots of wall space to display separately. Consequently, they’ve been sitting on my desk in a pile and every once in a while I pull them out to show relatives and friends. Of course this isn’t exactly the best way to show off these faces.

Well this weekend I finally decided to do something about this unwieldy stack of photos. My goal is to have a way to display a dozen or so large photos in a small space. I also want an easy way to change the photos often. I am not looking for an elegant display, just a simple way to show the faces attractively.

Yesterday I headed off to the hardware store to round up a few inexpensive items to make my mini-gallery. To support the photos from beneath, I chose a lightweight material – vinyl siding channel used for houses. The piece that I found was 16 ft long so I had one of the clerks cut it in half. To support the photos near the top I decided to use a flat strip of metal. I chose a length of “drive cleat” which is used to connect metal heating ducts. To be able to change the photos easily, I used small magnets that hold to the metal strip.

Here’s my parts list: 16 ft vinyl siding J-channel $4.75 2 x 5-ft metal drive cleats $8.00 16 x 3/4″ magnets $5.00 package of wood screws $1.00 total less than $20.00

Above are all of the photos and hardware that I used for the project.

It was very simple to mount the hardware using a few wood screws. If the surface on which you want to display your photographs is dry wall, you should use hollow wall anchors instead of the wood screws to mount the channel and cleats. Because the photographs are lightweight, they won’t require heavy duty hardware.

Securing the vinyl siding J-channel. The photos will sit in this channel.

Securing the metal strip for the magnets that will hold the prints in place.

The metal strip is positioned 1/4 of photograph height. The magnets “stick” to the strip and holds the photos in place.

The photograph rests in the vinyl channel. Using the channel and magnets makes it very easy to change photographs at a later time.

Here’s the before and after look of the wall space that I converted into a mini-gallery.

Here’s the empty space that was just waiting to be used as a gallery.

Here’s the completed mini gallery. The small magnets are holding the photos in place.

In a matter of 30 minutes I was able to “hang” the photos. I’m pleased with how they enhance the room. And I no longer have to store the portraits in a pile.

I have one problem. And it may be a big one. I’ve run out of space and there are four more photos (for four more grandkids’ photos) that are yet to be displayed, I’ll have to find another wall area to expand the gallery.

So there you have it. This is an easy and inexpensive way to display your large photo prints.

Why not take an opportunity to show off your photos?

 

Written by Arnie Lee

 

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