The Easiest Poster Frame You’ll Ever Make

Today in my workshop/craft room, I found 2 posters rolled in a tube that I’d completely forgotten about! Did I have any frames lying around? No. 😜 But since I’m in a Spring mood and want to change up our decor a bit, I decided I wanted to hang one of these on the blank wall of our basement stairwell. But what to do for a frame?

I did not want anything heavy. Certain little people like to jump down the stairs to the top landing, and the wall regularly gets slammed. A heavy frame (lord forbid with glass) would be an accident waiting to happen. Really, I didn’t even want anything that would hang normally because the inevitable body slams would most likely knock anything loose. Plus, I’m pretty sure there’s an air duct behind that wall, so nails wouldn’t even really support a hanging frame.

I really, really didn’t want one of those plastic poster frames that works great in a college apartment and/or bachelor pad.

I also wanted to spend $0.

Since I had a bunch of “ugly” scrap 1x2s that were 8-ft long and at least straight, I figured I could make a rustic wooden frame and hang the poster using command strips, then use command strips for the frame over that.

I’ve done something kind of similar in the past where I attached a wallpaper mural directly onto the wall and then nailed decorative 1x2s onto the wall to act as a frame. I LOVE how that works, but this time I wanted something a little more flexible where I could change the poster easily if I wanted without dismantling the frame. My new way would also mean zero damage to the wall.

Step 1: Measure and cut wood frame pieces. My posters were 24×36. I decided to measure so that the posters would fit about halfway under the frame, like the frames would overlap the sides a bit to cover the edges.

I took my scruffy wood and cut one end at a 45-degree angle on my miter saw. Then I measured from the short side of that angled cut and measured out 35 inches. At this mark, I again cut a 45-degree angle – MAKING SURE the shorter side of that cut was at the 35 inch mark, and also making sure the short sides were on the same side of the wood piece. (These will be inside corners.)

Once I had this one long piece cut, I didn’t bother measuring the other long piece but simply held this cut piece over the one I needed to cut, then cut my second piece that exact same size, with the exact same angles.

For the shorter pieces, I measured to 23 inches for the inside, shorter sides of my 45-degree cuts. I again cut one piece of wood to this size, then held it over my second piece of wood and cut the second piece without bothering to measure.

Once these were all cut, I made sure my corners were square by laying the pieces arranged like a frame on the floor. I happened to have 2 T-squares, so that made it easy. If you have anything square, you can just set these in the corners to check that everything lines up.

Side note: If you don’t have a miter saw, you can use a little hand saw to cut your angles. The 1x2s are nice, soft wood (pine, I think) and easy to cut by hand if you have to.

Step 2: Rough up and sand (optional). To make my wood extra rustic, I took my multitool and cut off chunks from the front of the wood pieces. You could use a little handsaw too, or a chisel.

Once I had rough parts all over the wood pieces, I took my sander and smoothed down all the jagged spots.

Side note: You don’t have to add these rough touches, but it worked for the rustic look I wanted. You could just stain like normal or paint nice, smooth frames too.

Step 3: Stain. I first used a really dark walnut stain and wiped it over the really rough parts that I’d cut out of the wood pieces. This helped to make these spots look extra rustic and aged, almost like “live edge” pieces.

Once those dark spots were stained, I took a slightly lighter stain and brushed that all over the wood pieces. I didn’t bother with the backsides that would be against the wall anyway.

Step 4: Assemble the frame. When all the stain was dry (I gave it 4 hours), I lightly wiped it with a cloth just to make sure none of it came off. Then, I set all my pieces in position on my work table. I made sure all my corners were square and that all my 45-degree ends lined up nice and flush against each other.

I considered using wood glue for about 30 seconds before just grabbing Brad (my nail gun). You could use wood glue if you can clamp your corners together well enough while the glue dries, but I’d be more comfortable nailing in a few little nails through the corners too. Or, you could use little L-brackets and screw them into the backsides to connect the corners.

Using my nail gun, I put 2 nail in each corner to hold the 2 pieces together. I worked my way around the frame, making sure to keep everything square.

That was it for building the frame!

Step 5: Hang the poster, then the frame. It drives me crazy when I don’t hang something level, so I grabbed a level and quickly drew a line along the wall where I wanted the top of my poster to go.

Taking a few command strips, I cut them in half and used the smaller pieces on each of the 4 corners to hang the poster. (Using the full strips seemed like overkill for a light poster.) I made sure to hold the top of the poster along my level line, then pressed the command strips onto the wall to hang the poster.

That done, I put a full-sized command strip at the very top of the two top corners of the frame. Then I held the frame up and made sure it covered each edge of the poster before pressing the command strips in place. (You could also nail this in place if you want added security.)

Done!

This was such an easy project that I wasn’t sure whether to even post about it, but a few people have asked how to do an easy picture frame, and this is certainly that! You could make these in any custom size you need if you’ve got an abnormal poster size. And you could use any stain or paint you like, of course. I really like the rustic look I achieved (see how the shadows are cool?), and I think it’ll tie in nicely to wood I plan to use elsewhere later!

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