Budget Decorating Ideas: How to Make a Large Photo Collage Board

If you like taking and displaying photos, but don't have the time or money to go through the process of framing and hanging them all, one idea is to make a large photo collage board on a wall. This board will be a place for you to attach all of your photos of whatever sizes you want, and to remove old photos and add new ones easily.

Large Photo Collage Board Idea: Netting Base

The first way to make a large photo collage board is to base it on a swath of netting. This can be anywhere from a fine 1-inch netting to a large hammock-style rope netting. Get a piece that will fit nicely on the wall you are planning to house your photo collage on, and affix it firmly using nails. This will be the only piece of your photo collage board that is actually attached to your wall.

Large Photo Collage Board Idea: Bulletin Board Base

Another idea, if you would like a more polished look than netting, is to use a bulletin board. This can either be a large manufactured bulletin board, or just ½ inch think sheets of corkboard that are not framed or backed (just make sure your pins don't go through and make holes in the wall).

If you want a more polished look for your photo wall than bare cork, buy a large piece of cloth (or find an old sheet) and cover the front of the board with that. This can be a great way to get a lot of color into the collage board to start.

Large Photo Collage Board Execution: Attaching Photos

Your photos that you will be putting on the board can be of any size and quality, which makes it easy to add new photos. Ask your friends and relatives to send you prints of any photos of them they enjoy to start your collage board, and then continue collecting photos from there.

For a netting-based collage board, you should purchase a large quantity of clothespins to hold your photos to the netting. Experiment with clipping them just once on the top, or putting a few pins on different sides to hold them on and hold them to one another. It all depends on how polished of a look you want your photo collage to have.

For a bulletin board base, any variety of pins will work to hold your photos to the board. These can be the traditional colored pins, or just plain ones if you would prefer them to be less obvious. Again, if you made your cork board yourself, make sure that your pins are not going all the way through and putting holes in your wall.

Large Photo Collage Board Execution: Adding Color

In addition to photos, you should also consider using sheets of colored paper (or white if the background for your board is already colored) to offset the photos. These can be artistically placed around the photos, and even cut into fun shapes and designs to add a more personal and fun touch.

As a matter of fact, any materials you want can be added to your board, from swatches of cloth or ribbons woven through the netting, to fancy scrapbook materials and embellishments to make it a huge scrapbook page.