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DIY Large Wall Art with Wood Frame

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by
January 6, 2020
Zoe Hunt
DIY Large Wall Art made from Society 6 Tapestry

This post contains affiliate links for your convenience (which means if you make a purchase after clicking a link, I earn a small commission, but it won’t cost you a penny more)!

I can’t believe I’m saying this. Y’all, this DIY wall art project has been on our to-do list for over a year. We purchased a tapestry from Society 6, got it in the mail, loved it, and then threw it in the closet to collect dust while we worked on a million other DIY home projects.

I don’t know why we put it off either. It’s a quick, easy DIY project that is very inexpensive once you have the tapestry!

Want to DIY buy don\'t know where to start? Click here to grab your free guide!

Alright, let’s start DIYing!

Tools

What You’ll Need

DIY Framed Wall Art Decor

New to DIY? Download our free 5 Steps to Getting Start with DIY guide!

Inexpensive large wall art with wood frame

Step 1: determine your measurements

If you like the size of your tapestry as is, subtract 3″ from the top and bottom measurements and 6″ from the height to determine the sizes you need for your wood backing.

I wanted our wall art to be more rectangular than our tapestry, so I folded the sides and determined that I only wanted it to be 42″ tall in total. Since I have excess fabric, I did not need to subtract 3″ to account for wrapping the fabric around. I just needed to subtract 3″ to account for the top and bottom wood pieces.

Note: if you use larger measurements than what I did, you will likely need more wood boards.

Step 2: cut your boards

Cut the backing for your tapestry out of 1×2 common pine boards. Since no one will see these, they can be ugly as long as they are straight! If you need tips on selecting the right boards, read our wood sizing and selection guide. I ended up needing 2 – 57″ boards and 3 – 39″ boards.

To make sure that your boards are the exact same length, cut the first board and then use is as a guide for your other measurements. TURN YOUR SAW OFF FOR THIS PART. We like to stack both boards on top of each other, line them up, and then push the boards back until the top piece is flush with the miter saw blade. Once we have the right placement, we remove the guide piece and cut as normal.

miter saw tip to get accurate sizing

STEP 3: assemble

Drill a pocket hole on each end of your 3 height 1x2s.

Screw your height 1x2s into your width 1x2s using 1.25″ Kreg screws.

Assembling the frame using pocket holes

Step 4: staple your tapestry

Grab your tapestry and begin stapling it to your backing. Start with the two sides and then do the top, bottom, and corners. Make sure to pull tight when you are stapling. We added staples every 4-6″ because that’s the distance that we could maintain between staples while keeping the tapestry really tight.

Note: your tapestry might be slightly see-through (ours was). If this bothers you, add a sheet between the wood and your tapestry and staple as normal.

stapling tapestry to frame

If you altered the size of your tapestry, cut off any excess fabric. Now let’s move on to the frame!

cutting excess fabric from tapestry

How to Build a Wood Frame

Step 1: cut your boards

Cut one side of your select pine 1×2 to 45-degrees.

Lay your large wall art down on a flat surface and place the 1×2 you cut in step 1 on the top of the canvas as you would if you were framing it. Line up the mitered side with the edge of the canvas then mark the other side to where you need to cut.

mitered corner frame around tapestry

Cut the second side of your 1×2. Test the measurement by lining it up on the top of your canvas. If the measurement is correct, repeat this exact measurement on another board. If the measurement is not exact, make adjustments until it’s right.

Tip: We tend to cut the wood a little bit longer than we expect it needs to be on the first round and then we slowly cut it down more. It’s easier to fix a board that is too long than one that is too short!

Repeat with the other two sides until you have 4 pieces that fit perfectly together. If you want to stain or paint your boards, do that now. We opted to leave ours natural

Free download wood sizing cheatsheet

Step 2: install the frame

Place your canvas on an elevated surface (we used our dining room table) so that you can clamp and nail the boards.

Position the boards and clamp them in place.

install frame around large tapestry art

Nail your frame to the 1x2s that the art is stapled to. We did about 5 nails on the top and bottom and 2 nails on either side. We then added four nails to the corners to make sure they stayed in place.

close-up of mitered corner frame

There you have it! You successfully built a wood frame for your DIY large wall art!

Looking for more wall decor ideas? Check out our roundup of 19+ of the best DIY wall decor ideas on the internet or this modern DIY wall art design!

Large framed wall art DIY with dalmatian sitting in front of tapestry
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