UncategorizedHow to Backmount Art onto Acrylic October 8, 2013I am so excited to share the tutorial and thoughts behind our new dining room art: a large print (that we sort of) backmounted onto acrylic. I really wanted to do a gallery wall on this huge blank space, but with the bookshelves and open kitchen shelves that you can see all in the same view, I decided one big art work might be enough. The first piece of this project was blowing up a picture that you love. I found this buffalo print a while back and loved it! I wanted to blow it up and cover a good chunk of this wall, but thought that would cost me an arm and a leg. Then, I heard about Staples Engineer Prints. Please tell me y’all have already heard of these and I was just showing up late to the game. I got this black and white 3×5′ print for $6.99. And it was ready in five minutes! I initially thought I would frame it normally, but really wanted something different for this area. Then I remembered these horse prints backmounted on acrylic I had seen over at The Hunted Interior. And I knew…these buffalo beauties would be perfect behind some acrylic. I got a 3×5′ sheet of plexi-glass from The Home Depot for $50. Not as cheap as I would’ve liked, but $57 for 3×5′ art isn’t too shabby. Once you have your materials, the first thing you have to do is trim the print. As you can see, there is about a two inch strip of white on the top and bottom of the print. After you trim it, the plexi-glass will be two inches bigger than the print on the top and bottom. So, we decided to trim the sides as well (even though that meant trimming off a little of the picture) so that you had a two inch strip of acrylic showing all the way around…sort of like a frame! Once it was all trimmed, it’s ready to hang. We initially weren’t sure how to hang this because I didn’t want any kind of tape or glue showing through the acrylic. I mean, the tutorial does say “backmounted to acrylic.” I’m sure there is a way to do that that is secure where nothing shows, but we came up with our own idea. We decided to tape the print to the wall and then screw the acrylic panel over it, so that it looks backmounted, but you see no tape, glue, anything. Yes, I said tape. DISCLAIMER: Double-sided tape is pretty strong stuff, so I really don’t know what it will look like when we one day take this off the wall. I always want a picture there, so I’m not really worried about that. But, if we ever sell it and have to take it down, it will potentially pull off paint. So, beware of that before you start taping art to your walls in a rental and then get in some trouble for damaged paint. So, we got double-sided tape and applied about five inche strips going into each corner. We also put one long one in the center of the picture just for stability. Then, we hung the picture on the wall. Make sure to have at least two people doing this project. It doesn’t really take that many hands, but it was surprisingly difficult to get this thing straight and you really can’t tell how straight it is when you’re right at it hanging it on the wall. We got the top of it straight (Chris mounted while I watched) and once I gave the okay that the top line looked good, he very carefully smoothed down the whole top of the picture. If you can get it straight everything else will be. Once the top was on good, he smoothed out the rest of the picture taping it to the walls. That part is really important. Smooth your hands all the way down from the top. If you just tape the bottom corners on, you may not have gotten it totally flat against the wall. Now, for the acrylic piece. We were given some advice that if we just screwed straight through the plexi-glass into the wall, we might get a crack. So, before mounting it, Chris slowly drilled four small holes: one on each corner. This is where you may need two sets of hands. I held the plexi-glass in place while he nailed small nails through the pre-drilled holes. After we had it up on the four corners, Chris decided that as large as this piece of acrylic is, it needed more stability. So, we drilled holes slowly and carefully into the center of all four sides and then nailed in small nails as we did on the corners. We were holding our breath on this part since it was already up on the wall and he was basically screwing into the wall as we’d been warned not to do, but thankfully, no cracks. But y’all, learn from us and screw into the center of the sides first. And last piece of advice, leave the plastic coating that prevents scratches and smudges on until it’s finished on the wall. Then you can remove it after all work is finished and it’s left clean with no finger prints. (NOTE: make sure you remove the plastic from the side going against the wall 🙂 ). That seems like a lot of details and steps, but it was the easiest project and took us maybe fifteen minutes to hang. I’m loving it in the room! *** There has been quite a bit going on around here, so I have a little catch up to do this morning. If you haven’t already, you’ve got to check out these amazing fall home tours. On Friday, we had Brittany from Brittany Makes. Gorgeous, cozy bedroom, right? Saturday, my dear friend Jesse from Scout and Nimble posted her gorgeous fall tour. I so want to hop on over to her house for some coffee and enjoy all those beautiful pumpkins and her amazing house. Go say hello! On Sunday, another sweet blogging friend, Julia from Cuckoo 4 Design, posted her modern fall/halloween tour. Seriously, I love it all! And last of all for yesterday, Carolyn from Sweet Chaos Home posted her lovely tour. It is all so cozy! I love everything, but I am DYING over this kilim rug that she used as a tablecloth. She said she wanted it to be boho chic. I’d say she achieved that! It’s awesome.
Kristin @ bliss-athome.com says October 8, 2013 at 12:24 pm The home tours have been so amazing Lindsay!!! I love this series 🙂 xo Kristin Reply
Lindsay says October 10, 2013 at 1:36 pm Thanks, Kristin! I am LOVING it too…I think it may have to be a recurring thing… Reply
cassie says October 8, 2013 at 12:36 pm love the artwork and tutorial! and loving all the tours! Reply
Angie @ Angies Roost says October 8, 2013 at 1:56 pm I LOVE the art! Like love, LOVE the art! Not only the print but also the symbolism! You’re fabulous…thought you should know!!!! Reply
Lindsay says October 10, 2013 at 1:36 pm Thank you, friend! I love the picture, but the meaning behind it is such a great reminder too! Reply
Julia @Cuckoo4Design says October 8, 2013 at 2:15 pm That artwork is perfect for the space and is such a statement piece. I dig it a lot! Reply
Gabbi @ Retro Ranch Reno says October 8, 2013 at 5:11 pm I don’t think you could ave added a more perfect piece for the space!! Love it!! Reply
Lindsay says October 10, 2013 at 1:35 pm Aww, thank you, Gabbi!!! I love it too and so glad that you do! Reply
Elisa says October 8, 2013 at 7:11 pm The art looks amazing! I rather like the tacks in the corners 😉 Reply
Lindsay says October 10, 2013 at 1:34 pm Thanks, Elisa! I do too…They’re really tiny so you can’t see them from far away, but I don’t mind them at all. Reply
Laura says October 9, 2013 at 1:31 am The print turned out awesome and I had no idea about the prints there! I have been following the series too and am impressed with the creativity! Plus it involves some of my fav bloggers! Laura House envy Reply
Tricia | 724 South House says October 9, 2013 at 2:43 am Looks great! I will need to take advantage of those engineering prints. Looks like it was great quality. Was there a certain image size or quality that you used since it was blown up so large? Reply
Lynsey says February 6, 2014 at 6:42 pm Love your blog, you have so many original ideas! Any suggestions on where to look for prints like the one you used for this project? Reply
lacy G says October 27, 2014 at 11:25 am Love it! Where did you actually find that buffalo print? Was it from a stock photo website? Reply
Lindsay says October 28, 2014 at 8:17 am It was! It was from iStock, but I don’t think they have it anymore. I haven’t been able to find it. Reply
Lisa @ Shine Your Light says April 20, 2016 at 2:38 pm Lindsay I was looking for something just like this!! You’re a genius. Thank you for sharing that little trick about the tape. So smart! I love the end result! Reply