Photo Boards

Looking for a creative way to display some family photos. Our clients were looking for the same. They wanted to be able to change out their photos regularly. They also wanted something different than the typical frame or gallery arrangement they have throughout their home. After researching ideas we came up with the Photo Board. This idea was so simple we thought we would put together a DIY tutorial for all of you to try yourself. Follow us on Facebook and post pictures of your project 🙂

We started off with pine 1x8. Looking back using a 1x10 would have been better because the portrait photos would have had a little more space. Each board was about $4-$5. We used 2 for this project.

After trimming the board length to size we set out to start our custom stain/paint wash application.

We deleted basic interior primer with a 1:1 ratio of water to primer. After we let that set, we applied some stain. The stain we choose was a Minwax Classic Grey. We applied 1 thin layer to each board. Once that was dry we experimented with a primer, water, stain ratio (1 cup primer, 1 cup water, 1/3 cup stain).

The last step was to add a little more texture with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. We used the Cocoa color. This paint can be a little pricey, but it is an amazing product and really goes a long way on projects. We also diluted this paint: 1 cup paint, 1/2 water. We brushed the paint on in streaks then rubbed it in with a paper towel. We did not want the paint to look even across the board, we wanted some spots to be lighter and some darker. Once this step was done we sealed it with a satin polyurethane spray.

For the clips you can really choose a variety of options to give a different look. We originally bought metal clips but went with a standard clothes pin instead.