Around two years ago, I bought a large wood frame from a builder’s surplus store. I had no project in mind, but I knew that it was a good size (48 inches by 30 inches), and the price was right, around $10. We moved it around our garage several times, and eventually the frame ended up underneath our bed. I can’t stand clutter, and it was driving me crazy. While remodeling my son’s room last year, I finally came up with a project for the frame. I was going to frame a cork board or chalk board on the wall in my son’s room with that wood frame. I then realized that doing cork or chalk was not the best idea for a six year old’s room. I knew my son would not do well if cork = push pins, and chalk, well chalk = mess.
I saw several magnet board projects on other blogs involving sheets of galvanized steel in picture frames. I thought that this was an excellent idea for my frame project and headed towards our local hardware store. I went to Home Depot and Lowe’s to look at their galvanized metal. Unfortunately, the frame was WAY TOO BIG, and the sheets of steel that these stores sell, is WAY TOO SMALL. My co-worker told me awhile ago that her dad deals with metal. It is a good thing that I remembered this. I asked her if her dad could get me a large piece of galvanized steel and she said, “YES”. I gave her the measurements and within a few days, she brought me the piece of galvanized steel. I placed the piece of steel and the frame against my husband’s work bench in the garage, and there it sat, for another month.
Of course, I begged and asked my husband to help me with the project but we were both swamped. One day, he finally agreed to start on it. He placed the galvanized steel against the wall, and pre-drilled the four corners, after measuring and making it level. He then took it off the wall, and then checked the drywall to see if he needed anchors, or if he was drilling into the studs. The reason that we were mounting the steel directly to the wall, and not to the frame, was because it was HEAVY, like VERY Heavy. If we used some kind of glue or epoxy to mount the steel to the frame, it would eventually come loose because of the weight.
After pre-drilling the steel, Angry Husband mounted the steel to the wall with dry wall screws. We use these screws a lot in our house. We buy them in bulk. Angry Husband was moving at a very fast pace, so I took pictures with my iPhone. Like they say “the best camera to use, is the one you have”.
After mounting the galvanized steel to the wall, Angry Husband then placed the unpainted frame against the wall around the steel. He then marked the spots where he would place the screws. He did some measurements, and then pre-drilled the frame. He then pulled the frame away from the wall. He then took the frame into the garage and counter sinked the holes so that the frame would lay flat. I would have never thought of this.
Of course, I went on some errands, and Angry Husband had spray painted the frame while I was gone. He used a can of primer black that was already in our garage. We went with a primer black between the rest of the colors in the room are flat, and not shiny. The orange chair rail is also a flat non-shiny orange. I had already sanded the frame prior to this project being started.
After the spray paint had dried for about a day, Angry Husband mounted the frame on the way. He used the dry wall screws to secure it once again.
I think that this project was super easy and turned out great. Just don’t get an extremely large frame and expect to find galvanized steel the same size at your local store, because you won’t.
I think Angry Kid’s room is finally done. It is about time!! Now I just need to finish our master bedroom.
