How To : Decorative Wall Hanging

This is my first How To so here goes…

Phase one of Project Art Room is to create a comfortable desk area from which I can blog. After moving the furniture around the room a couple of times, I settled on an alcove space next to the fireplace.

I took a step back and decided, this is all very practical but it’s missing some kind of creative energy – the kind of energy that makes you happy to type away. Hence the wall hanging…

Before

After

EQUIPMENT

HOW TO:

Step 1

Meaure the space and get yourself to B&Q (or a wood merchants) for your materials. I chose MDF but chipboard or hard wood will do the job nicely too.

At B&Q, you can have your wood cut to size free of charge which makes life easy!

Then, seek out some beautiful material that will look amazing over a large space. I chose this leaf pattern from Ikea.

Step 2

Drill the holes before you start to stretch your material. This will avoid damage to the material when you come to hanging the wood on the wall.

If possible, it’s best to countersink the drill hole too so that the screws will sit really neatly later on.

Step 3

Place the wood over the wrong side of your material. Pull the fabric tight and place a staple on each opposite edge until you have a staple of each side.

It’s important to build up the staples slowly so as to get the right amount of tension and avoid the material warping or going off centre. Also, keep the staples light so that they can be removed if you make a mistake.

Choose whether you want the corner fold to appear on the top or the sides of the hanging. I choose to place the corners along the top and bottom as they are least visible that way.

If you choose to put the fold along the top, complete the staples along the sides but leave around 6 inches along the top to be able to make your folds.

Step 4

This is the tricky bit!

I like to create neat flat corners and always invest a bit of time into getting them as perfect as possible.

In the images below, you can see I’ve pushed the material flat against the corner, made a fold with the excess material, then folded the main material over into a really nice flat corner.

Once you’ve got it, staple it down quick!

Step 5

By this stage, all the material should be stapled and the corners secured. Take a quick look at the good side to see that you are happy with the covering then hammer the staples into the wood. This is the really satisfying bit.

Stage 6

Now I’ll admit, I had quite a bit of help with the next part.

The walls that I needed to drill into are stone and needed to call in the man and his nifty tools. If you are doing this yourself, you’ll need a drill and wall plugs to attach to brick, or plaster board fixings for a studded wall.

I held the wood against the wall with a spirit level and marked where the screws needed to go. We then placed 4 drill holes into the wall and knocked in some plugs. You can then place your hanging against the wall and drive your screws into the plugs.

Stage 7

Drink a brew and admire your work

Conclusion

You can use this method to create a head board, room divide or smaller pieces of individual artwork for your walls. You could even use the board as a notice board but make sure you choose a softer wood.

I love my wall hanging. It makes the space much cosier and comfortable to work in. A great alternative to feature wallpaper and cheap too!

Hope this has inspired you and please let me know how you get on if you attempt your own hanging

Nicole @ beaufrog

This blog post is part of the mydeco.com ‘Pass It On Home Office series’, a collaborative blogging project.

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Tags: decoration, DIY, how to, wall art, wall hanging