I have always wanted a wall in my home that was completely filled with photos! A couple weeks ago I got it stuck in my brain that this wall in our studio was the perfect spot. There were a couple challenges, though: 1. The wall is HUGE. 2. I don’t have that many instant photos or film. 3. Even if I did buy enough film to fill the whole wall it would cost thousands of dollars and probably take months (or years?) to take enough photos.
So, I came up with a solution. We “wallpapered” this wall with color copies. The cons: They are not real photos, and they do repeat. The pros: It was done in a couple days, and I can now (slowly) cover the repeats with real photos over the next few years. One more pro: We’re in love with it! The photo wall makes our studio room a happier place to work.
Here’s how we did it:My brother helped me design 11×17 inch images with 9 Instax wide sized photos per sheet. We then created 4 different sheets with different photos. You could always do more if you wanted to reduce repeat photos! We measured the wall and ordered about 130 sheets on 80 lb card stock. We found an inexpensive local printer that did them for around $1 per sheet, so the entire wall only cost about $130! We got the sheets printed and trimmed. Next, we adhered them to the wall. We started with just sturdy double sided tape strips. This didn’t work for our wall, so we started using a staple gun. Obviously, someday we will have a lot of staples to pull, but I am ok with that. I plan to keep this wall up for a couple years, so It was worth it to me. If you have satin paint you may not need a staple gun. I made an instagram collage in our last home using only masking tape. It was up for more than 6 months with pretty minimal curling.
So, we adhered and stapled the sheets to the wall. We had to cut some to fill in the leftover space around the edges of the wall at the end. This took an entire afternoon with Katie and Kinsey cutting and stapling. Not bad considering the size of this wall!
Note: We created the wallpaper to match the exact size of Fujifilm INSTAX Wide photos. We chose this instead of polaroid because the film
is fairly inexpensive and accessible. It’s our favorite instant camera.
Now that it is fully installed I will be covering some of the repeat photos with real Instax photos. I love that I can do this over time and that I don’t have to wait until I collect a thousand photos to create the wall! It’s so much less pressure. 🙂
Ta-Da! Here’s a photo of the finished product! I am super thrilled with the outcome. It has so much personality.
I hope that this tutorial encourages some of you to try a photo statement wall. I am completely pleased with the quality, the price and the time it took us to install the wallpaper. It was a fun project and something we will enjoy for a long time. Have any of you created a photo wall? Is this something you would try?
XO! Elsie
here’s a short cut to all this work. You can create your own collage wallpaper or wall mural at eazywallz.com if you don’t mind paying a little extra. It’s removable and re-usable with custom made to fit your walls.
https://www.eazywallz.com/pages/create-a-collage-mural
Ohhhh its a huge collection of photos nice gallery….
This looks amazing, i can’t believe i’v only just discovered your blog. Love Sammie.
www.littleblondelife.com x
I love you blog! When I saw that you love Askinosie’s chocolate I knew I had found a good one. They are not far from me. Thanks for all your hard work and time and sharing such creative ideas!
I absolutely love it! I have been collecting pictures & quotes for a while to do a similar thing in my hallway. I have a small house so it needs to be sufficiently out of the way to not overwhelm my small rooms. And I need to marshal the courage to begin! What I love about yours is the uniformity of size – that is something I had not considered doing. The quick fix wallpaper option is clever. Hhmmm – maybe a rethink for me? Secondly, I love love love your blue couch! Another thing I refuse to buy until I find the one I love. Sadly, each time I see the next near perfect piece, someone already owns it. Yours has given me another style to add to my wish list. If the rest of your site is this good, you have a new fan.
Elsie I covered a wall in my daughter’s room with scrapbook paper. I was having a tough time getting adhesives to keep the paper on the wall. I ended up using wallpaper paste and I love the way that it turned out!
Here’s a link:
http://triciacanonico.com/2012/01/alices-room/
Unglaublich, was für eine tolle Idee……
Love this idea! xo
Love this, such a good idea to have a whole wallpaper effect! Especially if you have a big white room, then it doesn’t clutter it up!
This is such an amazingly creative idea for Instax photos! It’d be so fun showing your living room off to guests!
We have a wide selection of Fujifilm Instax cameras available on http://www.eyecandys.com/cameras-film/
This would be an amazing addition to my studio wall! Full of exercise inspiration!!!
~Meg
www.ExerciseYourBeauty.com
Oh wow, this is fabulous idea, and executed perfectly!! I’ll be trying it for my hallway next time I have some time off from work… Thank you so much for the inspiration!!
Awesome work!
Are they printed by inkjet printer? Will they fade over time?
SO SO awesome!
That is freaking amazing!!! I want one like that in my office when we finally have our own home! Such a genius idea!
Daisy Dayz Blog
Daily Craft Inspiration
I can’t remember if I commented on this one or not, but O-M-G do I love this wall! The solution of getting a simpler version up NOW that you can expand on over time is brilliant. And to be honest, I really like the repeats of the photos. What a great statement wall!
L O V E I T !!! so full of color and pretty original, I can’t do it on my wall because I live in a rented apartment but I could use a big canvas instead. Thanks!
I’m impressed!!!! You are genious! I’m from Italy, a hamlet on the lake. In Italy sometimes people say that British have no imagination, because of the rain, because of the fog … I now have a website to recommend! Congratulations you are wonderful!
Thank you!
giovanna
I love this so much!
‘squeee!’ Lol, I am completely in love with this idea! I can’t wait to take it and run with it! This gives the term ‘gallery wall’ a whole new dimension that is just awesome.