I am not very good at DIY. Understatement. I have no idea what I’m doing for even the smallest tasks. I would like to be more independent so I’m trying to learn – to change lightbulbs, build flat pack furniture, and now, hanging pictures. My sister has a scratch map and as soon as I saw it I knew I wanted one. I knew I wanted the deluxe version with the gorgeous combination of black and gold. I thought I’d put it in a black frame but that seemed so dull, so I looked for a gold frame instead. Unable to find one I thought I’d just paint a white one. So my tasks were thus – buy neccesary supplies, prepare and paint the frame, and finally hang the complete product on the wall.
It went wrong almost straight away. I went to B&Q (hardware store) and picked up items, wasn’t sure if they were what I needed, phoned my dad and was told that yes, those are the wrong items, you need more items, and you can make it much more cost efficient too. 😳 I wandered the aisles of B&Q for ages with my phone glued to my ear, juggling all my items, looking lost, confused and out of place. I was all those things. I came for paint, a brush, a steel ruler and a hammer and left with – a 50 piece tool kit, a brush, paint, sandpaper, a steel ruler. Yeah. “You’re starting DIY for the first time?” The woman at the till asked me as she began to scan my items. I laughed “Is it obvious?”
I started the night I bought my items. I sanded the frame lightly (probably too lightly, in hindsight. My frame is bad quality and I was scared it would break!) and then put on the first coat of paint. This was a Friday. Over the weekend I put two more layers of paint. By Sunday it was looking very gold, and a little streaky, but also kind of awesome. I tried to put the scratch map in but it was a little too narrow for the frame and kept falling out. I tried to use double sided tape to stick it to the backboard, which barely worked. Then I hung it. I…Didn’t measure where to hang it. I thought I could just eyeball it. Big mistake. I successfully hammered in the picture frame hook, got it up and realised it was completely off center , relative to the bed below it.
But it was up. I had done it.
I was very proud of myself, despite how imperfect an installation it was.
The final step was to get hold of some black card and make a frame to hold it in place. Obviously I couldn’t use the plastic sheet the frame had come with as it would cover the map, which I needed to access to scratch off the places I have been. Double sided tape was not working and I was worried would eventually damage the map anyway. Glue would be too permanent and also damaging. So I got some card and cut it … Unfortunately I have to cover the bottom of the map in a big way for stability but I figured I could use that space to list my trips or something like that (maybe just a title?) At least now I don’t need glue, tape or anything. The map is securely held as is, and you can’t see the gap on the sides where the map doesn’t quite fill the frame.
All in all this was expensive and time consuming. The result is flawed. But I am still ridiculously proud of myself. I did need to phone my dad…A lot but otherwise I did it all myself . :D