Hatrack River Forum: In need of some useful and ingenious decorating advice

This is topic In need of some useful and ingenious decorating advice in forum Books, Films, Food and Culture at Hatrack River Forum.

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Posted by Shanna (Member # 7900) on :

So I just moved into an apartment. First one that I pay for entirely myself, no roommate or anything. So I'm excited to decorate exactly how I want.

I LOVE movie posters and a few weeks ago I jumped on a great deal for two very large Harry Potter posters. Perfect condition, double-sided, matches the colors in my bedroom/library. However...they're four feet by six feet.

At the time, I guess I didn't think about HOW I'd actually get them on the wall. I tried just regular tacks/nails and adhesive. Bad idea. All of my other posters are framed with very basic poster frames (skinny black frame, acrylic) but they don't make ones in the size I need. I started shopping around for a custom framing job and the quotes were INSANE. I thought about buying the materials and doing it myself but when I asked for 4'x6' sheets of clear plastic at Home Depot, they thought I was kidding.

So firstly, does anyone have any suggestions on where to find such huge sheets of acrylic? Or maybe just any advice for how I can get these suckers on the wall without damaging them too much? They're made out of a card-stock that is just alittle bit lighter than vinyl. Sadly it doesn't have the same integrity at vinyl.

Any tips on an affordable make-shift framing job? I want to be able to take them down and roll them back up for whenever I move next (I lost WAY too many gorgeous displays in my last move because they were too big to transport.) So gluing them to styrofoam sheets is out of the question.

I'm just not crafty at all. Putting together my new furniture from Walmart two weeks ago was a pretty impressive feat for me. I'm willing to try anything...I just don't know what to try.

Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :

I live in an artsy pretentious hypereducated prosperous college town so my resources may be different than yours, but there should be some arts supply stores that will do that cheap plastic cover and black edge framing job. It shouldn't be too expensive at all.

Posted by Tatiana (Member # 6776) on :

I used a staple gun with good success when decorating dorm rooms or apartments with posters. They come out easily with a butter knife, do minimal damage to the wall; the holes cover easily with paint. They do a bit of damage to the posters, but if you keep them near the edges, any damage will be easily covered with matting or the frame edge, if in the future you find you want to have them framed. I highly recommend using a staple gun.

Posted by Traceria (Member # 11820) on :

I'm at a loss for other ideas, but I'm hoping Samprimary's idea works out. With posters that large (and those of more standard size), if you hope to preserve them at all, I'd avoid tacking/stapling them to the wall no matter what. With their size especially, you'd be looking at either some serious stapling or major curling of the poster. [Dont Know]

Posted by scholarette (Member # 11540) on :

How about putty? Or those little sticky squares for poster hanging. We have Command strips on our posters and they work pretty good. And they pull off the posters nicely.
http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/Command/home/us_en/products/poster_strips/

Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Traceria:
if you hope to preserve them at all, I'd avoid tacking/stapling them to the wall no matter what.

Yeah as far as the health of posters is concerned, if you want to preserve them the most important issue is less about stapling them and more about having them covered by a protective layer.

Posters without glass or plastic protecting them are, well, constantly vying to fall prey to a calamity.

Posted by Belle (Member # 2314) on :

Laminate the posters then use tacky strips that won't harm the wall. Office Depot can laminate - or find a teacher supply store - they usually charge a dollar a foot to laminate.

That's what teachers do with posters and they last years and years. I even hot glue mine and can take them down and move them with no damage to the posters, but you can't use hot glue on sheet rock. (It peels right off the concrete block walls though)

Posted by The Rabbit (Member # 671) on :

quote:
So firstly, does anyone have any suggestions on where to find such huge sheets of acrylic?

You will have a hard time finding these except in a specialty glass or plastics store but those aren't that hard to find. They just aren't the your normal consumer shops. Look in the yellow pages under glass and or plastic and you will find outlets that sell glass and plastic sheets. These places are quite common, we even had two in Bozeman Montana. Once you find a place that advertises selling glass or plastic sheets, call them and ask if they can cut it to size for you. They almost always will.

I've done this several times. Its always been very reasonably priced.

Posted by Nighthawk (Member # 4176) on :

Here ya go!

Happy to help! [Big Grin]

Posted by Shanna (Member # 7900) on :

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone!

I live in a small redneck town so art shops are a bust though I'm sure I could find plenty in the nearby city on the off-chance that I get a day off anytime soon.

Staple gun is an option but a serious last choice. I tried putty and a couple of different adhesives but no luck. The poster is just too large or heavy.

I'm not against hanging them without glass or acrylic because I've been displaying my movie posters for years with no problems and its not like I have kids or puppies living with me. However, all the posters I have ARE displayed behind a cover so maybe its one of those tricks of the universe where the first unprotected poster I hang will get ruined through some freaky chance occurence.

Do laminate sheets only stick to each other or will it stick to the actual poster? Like, would I be able to trim the edges later and easily take off the laminate so that I can roll the posters in the case that I move sometime in the future.

I've been thinking lately that I could find some large cardboard sheets and then maybe get some clear clips to attach the poster along the edges. I guess I'll have to go bug the Home Depot guys or find an art store to see if anyone make the kind of clips that I'm imagining.

I'll try some glass and plastic companies. Pricing just worries me since I have not one, but TWO huge posters to hang.

Thanks for the help everyone! Gave me some good ideas.

Posted by King of Men (Member # 6684) on :

Movie posters? Well... I suppose... but I can't help feeling that you're missing a perfect opportunity to put up some spikes with the impaled skulls of your defeated enemies. Roommates usually object to that kind of thing, in my experience; although this can be fixed by agreeing to leave the heads off, putting up empty spikes, and explaining that you want a space for future defeated enemies. If you get the maniacal grin right, most roommates will back off nervously and encourage you to, by all means, fill the spikes right up. Still, with your own apartment you can avoid all this hassle and just do whatever you like!

Posted by Lisa (Member # 8384) on :

Bump.