I’ve been following the Bower Power / Young House Love Pinterest Challenge for a while now, but I’ve never participated. In the winter, Megan from The Remodeled Life was asked to participate, which was really cool because I learned we live REALLY close to each other! It was great meeting a bloggy friend in real life. Anyway, kudos to you, Megan, you inspired me to jump on the Pinterest Challenge.

pinterest challenge

Confession: I’m the world’s worst Pinterest user. I get really frustrated when I find something awesome that doesn’t link back to the original content. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened with this project. I found something cool, but no original source. From my best educated guess, it’s a photo from Better Homes and Garden’s DIY Magazine, circa 2010. Yes, I did some reverse image looking up.

See those cool filtered pictures mounted on wooden blocks?

HOLLA. On a slightly smaller scale.

pinterest challenge wood block mounted pictures

So a quick and dirty review of how I did it.

I got a 1″ x 8″ x 4′ piece of pine board at Lowe’s. It was about $10. I cut that into four squares. I think the wood’s actual width was 7.25″, so I carefully measured each cut to make sure it was actually square.

Then I stained them. I was going for the natural look, but I think it’s a smidge too natural. The one on the bottom is stained, the one up top isn’t. Yeeaaah. So anyway, note to self, Minwax “Natural” stain = clear. No biggie.

The stain cured and I started cutting mattes. I used some paper from a sketch pad I had laying around, so it’s a tad thicker than copy paper, but not a thick as cardstock. I chose this because it’s off-white and white-white would have been a bit blaring. I wasn’t sure which size matte to go with, but I ended up with the larger version.

Oh, I guess I should tell you where I got the pictures! Walgreen’s has a pretty cool app that allows you to upload pictures directly from your phone, Facebook or Instagram. You specify where you want to pick them up and they’re ready! No, Walgreen’s isn’t paying me to say nice things. I just genuinely like this app.

I wanted pictures with the same theme, and since the only consistent theme in my Instagram feed is food (I know, I know) and my husband, I chose to play with some photos I took at the International Hot Air Balloon Festival in Albuquerque, NM (we went with my family in 2011).

First I cropped them to a square and gave them the Haas filter with a photo app called Aviary.

I was going to go with the Haas alone, but when I played with Instagram, I really liked the 1977 filter on top of the Haas. And because why do things simple when you can make it complicated?!

Four 4″ x 4″ prints, with a 40% off coupon, were exactly $1 with tax. (That’s another reason I like Walgreen’s – there’s almost always a photo printing coupon floating around!)

instagram filter hot air balloons

So with some scotch tape, I mounted the photos to the mattes and the mattes to the wooden block. To mount the blocks to the wall, I used 3M Command strips.

The package said one strip would hold a 8″ x 10″ frame or up to 3 pounds. The block was definitely less than 3 pounds and no side was larger than 8″, so I went with one strip each. I may regret this later when it crashed down in the middle of the night. Rolling with it for now!

And that was it!

pinterest challenge wood block mounted pictures

I hung/stuck them in this little corner next to the sofa. Should I have gone with the adjacent wall? Maybe? I’m still feeling it out. That corner felt particularly empty after moving a lamp out of the way to make room for the sofa.

Oh! You’re probably wondering what happened to the fourth picture. I may have tried to mix stains to make the “natural” a little darker and it definitely turned out gross. User error. But the three look good to me!

Wood was $10 (with scrap to spare), stain was $5, pictures were $1. We had Command strips, tape and paper for the matte around the house. Not bad results for $16. Not nearly as beautiful as the magazine pinspiration, but it’s fun and commemorates a really cool trip we took together!

pinterest challenge wood block mounted pictures

Did you play along with the Pinterest Challenge? What Pinterest-inspired projects have you completed lately?

2 Responses to Pinterest Challenge! Wood Block Mounted Photos

  1. This is a really fun idea! I’m a huge fan of Instagram and I love the idea of using them in this way. Plus bonus points for also using that narrow space that frames your window. We have a few like that and I’m always looking for clever ideas.

    Thanks again for stopping by my blog!

    • paige says:

      Thanks! I’m thinking I might redo the fourth one I messed up and rehang them all a bit closer. Still contemplating that slight wider space too…

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