DIY Weathered Wood Photo Backdrop
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One of my blog goals this summer is to update a some of my recipe photos. I have a few from the very beginning that were snapped with my phone or just not very appetizing looking. I may even update some that were taken this past winter in my kitchen. (Most of those photos aren’t bad, just a little yellow from my kitchen lights. We’ll see if I get to those, it can be hard to squeeze in picture taking with 2 hungry little monsters sweeties hanging from my apron strings…)
I am always on the look out for pretty dishes, tablecloths, place mats or backdrops I can use to dress up my food photos. I’ve had a weathered wood backdrop on my to do list for a while, but I kept putting off the trip to Lowes for supplies.
I finally got it done and love it!
We do have a garage full of supplies and tools, but I wanted this project to be simple. (And it was… why drag out a bunch of tools and get hot and sweaty when you can work in the AC and use a little glue…) Here is how I made it:
Supplies needed for a weathered wood photo backdrop:
- Shims (they come in different sizes, mine were 12 inches long and came in a pack of 42, I bought 2 @ $3.87.)
- Wood for the back supports (I bought 3 1/4X3X2 aspen planks @ $1.24 each.)
- Wood glue (I used Elmer’s wood glue that I already had.)
- Paint (I used paint I had on hand- The blue was a sample I had for my laundry room, leftover white paint and some of my Ralph Lauren tea stained glaze.)
- Clear coat sealer (I used one with a matte finish.)
Instructions:
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| Oops, just added a little more gluing than intended to my project… |
Step 1: Glue all your shims together so they make a flat level piece of wood and let dry for about an hour.
Step 2: Line up the support pieces, using the shims as a guide on how far apart to space the supports.
Step 3: Add glue to the support pieces and place the shims. Let dry. (I placed a few heavy objects on top of the drying shims to help make sure they dried securely and flat.)
Step 4: Once the glue is dry, add your paint. To achieve a similar effect as mine, I applied one thick coat of regular blue paint, and let it dry. Then find something to distress the wood. (I could only find was a very heavy chain. It was so heavy, all I could do was drop it a few times on the wood.)
Next , with a wet rag, I rubbed my dark glaze over the entire panel, then rinsed the rag and wiped away most of the color. (You could mix water with a dark color to get the same effect.)
After the glaze dried I did the same thing with white paint- mixed it with water, wiped it on and then wiped the excess off.
After it dried, I finished it off with a quick coat of Valspar matte finish spray sealer.
Isn’t it pretty?
In this picture, I used Photoshop Elements to change the background to a dull yellow. (At the time I looked up this link, Elements was on sale for $63. That is a good price!)
I am thinking about adding some dark stained shim pieces to the back side so I can have 2 looks in one. I need to find some dark water based stain next time I am at the craft store.
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