The Big Picture

Yesterday my son turned 6 YEARS OLD!!! What??? I know it's crazy, right? I still can't believe it!!

In typical "Boozer Family tradition" he spent the night before out on a date with Daddy! 

They shopped for his birthday gift and then went out to dinner! They both had such a fun night! 

Since Dave took him out I wanted to do something special for him myself. 

A friend of ours took this picture of my boys a few years ago during one of my husband's hockey games. It has always been one of my absolute favorites!!!

 Jonathon's bedroom desperately needs repainted but since we have SO MANY other projects going on  right now, it may be awhile until I get to it. 

Doesn't mean I can't do something fun to dress up such a blah room, right?

Jonathon's Bedroom Before

So here is the big picture :)

To get started I ran out and got all of my supplies! 

First thing I needed was the large print of the photo. I ordered it from Staples website. It is called an Engineer Print and comes in a few different sizes, but this one, 4ft. x 3ft.is the largest. It can only be printed in black and white and costs only $7.49!!! Woohooo!!!! 

Then I ran to the Home Depot and got a 4'x8' sheet of tempered hardboard for $8.97. A piece of underlayment or thin plywood would have worked too but was much more expensive and not nearly as smooth! What I got worked PERFECTLY!!! 

I had the nice lady at the Home Depot cut the board down to 2'9" x 3'9" so the picture would have a 3" overhang. I also grabbed some spray adhesive while I was there. Make sure whatever adhesive you grab is photo safe or one that won't ruin the print. I purchased this 3M kind. It was actually the cheapest one they had, at $5.44, but also the only one that said "picture safe"... can't beat that! While your out you should also grab a 10 foot long 1x2" or 1x3".  I had these at home so I didn't need to pick them up.

To get started I cut down my scrap 1x2"  into four pieces. I cut two longer pieces, 2 ft. 5inches, one for the top and one for the bottom, and 2 shorter pieces, approximately 2 ft long, for the middle. I attached the 1x2s to the hardboard with small nails.

We then used some screws and wire to create a "hanger" for the picture. I wanted something that would be VERY secure since the photo will be hanging over Jonathon's bed.  We secured the wire onto the top middle board. We drove the screws into the ends, wrapped them with the wire, and tightened the screw to secure it. 

Once we had the back all set up, we put some newspaper down on the floor and gave the whole board a good coat of the spray adhesive. That stuff is crazy sticky and it really doesn't take much to get the job done.

I really don't recommend doing this step inside. We were working in my Mom's kitchen because it was raining outside and it's so cold here that even the garage was freezing but even with the newspaper down, the floor still got a little sticky.

Once the board was sprayed my Mom and I each took a side of the paper and held it tight. She started by lining up the top where we wanted it, and laying it down on the board, while I held my end up form the sticky stuff. :)  

She then started smoothing the picture down very slowly from the top to the bottom. Once the paper touches the glue you only have a few seconds to pull it up and fix any mistakes. We were both SUPER excited about how easy the picture went onto the board. It was way easier then both of us had anticipated! 

And it looked awesome once we had the whole paper on! 

Then we needed to work on the edges. I chose to wrap the paper around the hardboard like you would wrap a present. We stood the picture up and creased the edges of the picture where it should fold around the board. I then sprayed the adhesive while my Mom folded the edges over. 

If you get ANY glue on your hands take a break and wash them before touching the picture. We were lucky to have two sets of hands so one could spray and one could fold over the picture. 

And then you are finished!!! :) Go ahead... pat yourself on the back!!! 

It turned out so much better then I had even imagined!!!

 I absolutely LOVE it!!! and more importantly, so does Jonathon!!! 

Special thanks to my beautiful niece, Sierra, for taking all the photos for me!!! 

(she made me say that:)