Kids' Art Display Boards

Hello from Atlanta! I’m currently at the Haven Conference hanging out with some amazing bloggers and learning a ton, but I wanted to quickly share the tutorial for one of the super easy projects from our rock & roll themed under stair playroom – the art display boards.

This post is sponsored by IKEA Centennial and Command Brand. I was provided product in exchange for this content, but as always, all opinions are my own! For more information, read my full disclosure statement.

The under stair playroom is so narrow that I wanted to keep the floor pretty clear, and instead add function to the vertical space. On one entire wall I created an art and music gallery wall that includes four art display boards for hanging my boy’s drawings – and each display board only took about 5 minutes to make!

SUPPLIES:

RIBBA Picture Frame from Ikea ($6.99)
Sheet music copied on to colored cardstock
Elmer’s Craft Bond
Scissors
Paint brushes
Mod Podge
Metal clips
Black acrylic paint
Gorilla Super Glue
Command™ Picture Hanging Strips

Since the playroom is rock and roll themed, I wanted to incorporate music into the art display boards, as well as using them to add some color to the white wall. I downloaded the sheet music to four different Beatles songs, and printed each song on to a different bright color of cardstock.

Then I removed the glass and backer board from the Ikea picture frame, and safely discarded the glass.

Next I used Elmer’s Craft Bond to spray that back of the pages of sheet music, adhering them to the backer board one by one.

I overlapped the pages of sheet music at different angles to create a collage effect, and let the pages stick out past the edges of the backer board.

Once the entire backer board was covered in sheet music, I turned it upside down and used a pair of scissors to trim the excess from all of the edges.

Next, I used a large paint brush to give the sheet music a quick coat of Mod Podge.

The moisture of the Mod Podge caused the sheet music to ripples in a couple of places, but as the paper dried, the ripples disappeared, leaving a nice smooth surface.

I then place the sheet music covered backer board back into the picture frame.

I picked up four metal clips on Michael’s and gave each a quick coat of black acrylic paint.

As soon as the paint on the clips was dry, I Gorilla Super Glue to glue each clip to a music covered backer board, near the top center.

Finally the art display board were ready to be hung on the gallery wall, but I didn’t want to simply hang them using a nail at the top of each, because this would have allowed them to swing from side to side if bumped by the kids. Instead, I used Command™ Picture Hanging Strips.

Following the instructions on the package, we were able to secure both the top and bottoms of the frames to the wall. The Picture Hanging Strips prevent the frames from swinging or moving when touched!

The other half of each strip is placed on the wall.

I used the Command™ Picture Hanging Strips.to hang all of the Ikea frames on the gallery wall, except for the largest poster frames {which are hung from nails, but with the picture hanging strips used to secure the bottom corners in place}.