« Architect Prints, Grown Up & On the Cheap »
Thursday, February 28, 2013 
Just like me I'm sure that you have seen that you can print architect's prints at Staples for ridiculously cheap. Since I took down all of the art off of my walls when it no longer matched with my current redo, I thought a huge print of one of my favorite black and white images would be absolutely perfect.
So I used the online ordering thingamajiggie and picked it up my massive print the next day for a cool $7 and change and I was supremely excited. Now from what I had seen, people were just tacking these suckers on the wall and it looked perfectly respectable.
In my case I had two problems. First, I felt like a teenager with a poster tacked to my wall. But the truth is that I wouldn't even tack a poster to my wall as a kid. My pride and joy of my bedroom design in middle school were my framed Degas and Renoir prints. And while I was a huge fan, no ratty, angsty bedroom full of Nirvana posters for this gal. In a lot of ways I wasn't normal.
My second issue is the fact that the cat shown on the bed above, Max a.k.a. Dummy was constantly being taunted by the very slight shadows cast by the pins holding the image to the wall. He'd jump and scrape his way down the wall repeatedly. I'm really surprised that the print survived it, to be honest, with nothing more than a few, small rips.
Since I have no knowledge of how to use a power saw plywood was a no go for this project, which left me with foam core board. I bought a massive piece for $3.60 (use a 40% off coupon :) and was able to get it home with minimal damage to the corners, but seeing out the back window was a totally different story.
So, want to make your own? It's cheap and it's easy and it will take up a crazy amount of boring real estate in the event that you, like me are in serious need of some decor...
You will need:
- Black and white print from Staples (architect's print)
- Foam core board
- Yard stick
- X-acto Knife
- Glue sticks
- Sawtooth hangers
- Hot glue gun
Here is my print before. The image I used is kind of an odd shape, not rectangular yet not square.
I decided to make my hanging pic perfectly square and measured accordingly. Do the same for yours using your yard stick to measure and mark and then again with your x-acto knife to cut a nice, clean edge.
Next trim up your poster so that it is about 1-2 inches bigger than your foam core on all sides.
Now it's time to glue this baby down. Simply align as you want it to be, fold the paper back and rub your glue stick directly onto the board. I've started using Aleene's Tacky Glue Sticks and I love them.. Fold the paper back and use your hand to smooth out completely before moving on. Keep it up until it's tacked down all the way.
This is considerably messier than I had anticipated, with the toner coming off onto my hands very easily. Don't wear nice, light colored clothes just to be safe.
Turn your image over and fold the paper over the edge and tack down with your glue stick. Do this for two sides opposite another (top and bottom or left and right of the image).
With the two remaining sides, fold the corners in just like you would when wrapping a present. Use your glue to tack down and finish this bit up.
Heat up your hot glue gun and push your yard stick flush with the top of your board. Apply glue to the sawtooth hanger and place up agains the yard stick. Do with two on opposite sides and allow to fully cool.
Voila! You have some nice wall art that is just as cheap as a poster but bit more grown up looking! Total cost for this project was just over $10. Now where else can you get a piece of art this big for ten bucks?
Happy Thursday!!!
Home Decor, Tutorial, Wall Art 
Reader Comments (2)
FUN POST! I've heard about engineer prints but not architect prints! Hmmm...wonder if they have teacher prints and doctor prints, too. But I digress.
I love your new wall art. And that picture is stunning. What is the subject? It reminds me a bit of Grand Central Station...but looks perhaps like Europe?
Ha! I believe you are right - they are engineer prints. When I picked this sucker up the lady kept talking about blueprints and Pinterest :) I think she must have confused me. Lol.
I want to say it is Chicago but I will double check. It is an image I found at the Library of Congress and fell in love with.