I have seen a really nice picture from an online company that I think would look great on my wall. There is a problem, the picture is 120 inches wide and 40 inches tall. It comes as a poster- I am assuming it is rolled up for shipping. What method would I use to hang it? I checked with a local art shop and they could not come up with anything. I do live in a rental so I can’t do anything to permanent. Any ideas on hanging large pictures without resorting to thumbtacks?
Sheet lumber is available in 10’ lengths. Most yards (and all big-box) stock 8’, so it would be a special order.
Then you’d need something really thin -the cheap luan plywood in the big box might not work so well in 10’ lengths.
I’m thinking marine plywood with 3M 77 adhesive, applied very slowly, starting at one end and doing a foot or two at a time. Have it on solid surface and have a roller handy. A darkroom print roller would be perfect.
If you get marine mahogany, you could maybe make the wood larger than the print and finish it to act as a frame (if you get a 10’ chunk, you’ll need to use a bit of the cutoff width to place at the ends.
Take it to Kinkos and have them mount it on foam board. If that’s too big for them Fast Signs or, even better, a local (independent) sign shop should have no problem mounting it to something light weight… and they’ll be able to do a much, much better job than you can.
All said and done, it’ll weigh just a few pounds and you’ll be able to hang it with two small brads stuck right in the drywall.
The problem you’re going to have is that it’s 10 feet long, so you’re going to need a way to transport it. If you don’t have a van (not a pick up) or a minivan or something that large, ask them for a workaround. Graphic designers are pretty good with these kinds of things. You might consider making it into a triptych (broken up into three (or more) separate piece that you hang about an inch or two apart. They’re trendy right now, but it’s going to be more convenient in this case.
Beyond transporting it . . . are you sure you can get something 10 feet long into your apartment?
assemble in the room.
buy twice the number of foam display board that you need to mount the poster. assemble (glue) a two layer of the foam board, overlapping the joints.
Thanks for the help. I feel confident that I can now buy the picture and get it mounted some way. Also getting in this apartment will not be a problem but I will have to think about getting in somewhere else when I move. If you are curious, here is what I am talking about-
If I can make a suggestion, before you spend $250 on this and probably a hundred getting it mounted, mock it up with some newspaper or something and hang that, just to make sure it’s going to look okay.
Whenever I’m looking at art on Amazon or Overstock, I’m constantly amazed at how many people write reviews that say “It looks great, it’s just SO BIG” or “I really like it, I just didn’t know it was going to be this huge”. Everything lists the size, usually right there in the title, either they didn’t measure the available space OR, what they really meant was "I didn’t realize how terrible this would look wall to wall or floor to floor.
Here’s a perfect example. When I bought this (it wasn’t from Amazon) everyone was complaining about how it didn’t fit in their room. Well, duh, each panel is 24 inches high, if you have 8 foot ceilings, it’s not gonna make it. It was deceiving though, whatever site I saw it on had it displayed on in a gallery like setting. A wall (much higher than 8 feet) with no ceiling.
Luckily, my plan was to set them 2X2, so they fit just fine.
Anyways, unless you have a HUGE wall, I’d see how it fits, if it’s going to stretch the from one corner to the other, you’re probably better off going a size or two down. If that’s not as impressive as you were hoping for, look at a multi-panel picture. Those can get pretty big once you get into the 4 or 5 or 6 panel pictures, without getting 10 feet wide.
I’m going to have to second the mockup idea - I once was interested in a quality model ship (until I saw the $500 - $1000 price tag).
So I looked at ebay - one listing I remember was a 48" model being held in the lap of a young man (with a young woman just visible behind him). The room was one that you see in the 600 sq ft apartment (almost) all have in our present/past/future.
A 4’ model just did not work.
With an 8’ ceiling, that is going to be either hidden behind furniture or almost touching the ceiling.
If you have a long hall, it might work, but the image won’t be obvious.
An entryway (especially over a staircase) might work and be visible from adjacent rooms.
I have a 1620 sq ft 4/2 with both living and family rooms bad idea - maybe at 1800 sq ft, but this chops up the available space badly.
I can’t imagine both a 40" high image (let alone 10’) on a wall unless I get a pool table and call it furnished. Even they, there is only one wall that could possibly work.
I didn’t look at the item and did not see the price. Yes, a mount will easily run $100 - even a DIY.
Back-gluing foam board (sorry) sounds like an excellent way to introduce either wrinkles or tears - or both. It is NOT rigid in flex, and the boards will try to be larger and/or smaller than the print.
If you can get a rigid frame, it might work - another thing to check in the mock-up. Foam board is cheap, as is 3M 77 adhesive (yes, I like it a lot - used it to glue fabric to foam board, in fact).
You did see that you can get that picture in a smaller size, right?
Love the size preview - where did they find a couch that low? Why don’t they show the ceiling line (anything abutting the ceiling looks weird).
Methinks they want to sell the largest size more than they want to sell usable sizes.