How do I hang my posters with inexpensive materials?

February 26, 2008 8:13 PM

How can I hang movie / music posters cheap, effectively, and in a stylish way?

I recently bought about eight posters that I want to put in my room. My original plan was to use poster putty but it gets messy and needs constant readjusting.

So instead of buying expensive frames for my posters, does anyone know a cheap alternate way to hang posters around my room in a neat way?

Keyword here is cheap, I need to afford rent next month :P

posted by Schuby to home & garden (15 comments total)

Wal-mart sells some really cheap poster frames, the "glass" is plastic. Light weight and easy to hang.
posted by JujuB at 8:31 PM on February 26

How about something like this?
posted by kitty teeth at 8:34 PM on February 26

Kitty Teeth,

That would be perfect if it wasn't $15-20 per poster :(
posted by Schuby at 8:35 PM on February 26

You might want to try mountng them on foamcore. It's cheap, prevents them from wrinkling and gives them a nice weight and depth without the expense of a frame.
posted by GilloD at 8:46 PM on February 26

I just remembered something I used to do with my posters: Nail two clothespins into the wall as far apart as (or slightly less than) the width of your poster. This can be tricky and you will probably need to disassemble the clothespins for nailing. Clip the upper corners of the poster into the clothespins. If the poster is large or if the lower edges curl up, you can add a couple of clothespins for the bottom corners. Alternately, you can do something similar with binder clips pilfered from work.
posted by kitty teeth at 8:46 PM on February 26 [1 favorite]

appropriately sized binder clips (depending on how big the poster) and some nails/strong tacks to put in the wall.
posted by inqb8tr at 8:46 PM on February 26 [1 favorite]

There are cheaper versions of the device Kitty Teeth recommended out there. You may be able to find them at your local mass retailer.
posted by upplepop at 8:48 PM on February 26

Was just going to post about the binder clips, inqb8tr beat me to it. There's some examples here at Apartment Therapy.
posted by lemonwheel at 9:09 PM on February 26 [1 favorite]

Are you crafty? Do you care about having the posters behind glass/plastic? If not, you can easily rig poster mounts with a piece of metal (or wood, but metal is neater), some binder clips, and fishing line. For each poster, you'll need a piece of metal 1" high x 1/4" thick x 27" wide. (Here's a source of extruded aluminum that should work.)

Lay the metal along the top of the poster and attach a couple large binder clips to secure it in place. Remove the front metal loops if you want. Tie the fishing line between the remaining loops, leaving adequate slack for hanging with two drywall hooks in the middle, and tie a second loop around the other notch.

You can also attach a second length of metal to the bottom of the poster so gravity keeps it taut.

You'll need a hacksaw and a miter box to cut the metal to length.
posted by pmbuko at 9:43 PM on February 26 [1 favorite]

in my second paragraph, please disregard the phrase after the last comment. I redesigned mid-reply and forgot to remove that part.
posted by pmbuko at 9:47 PM on February 26

Know any elementary school teachers? My mom used to use the laminating machine at her school to laminate my posters for me.
posted by crinklebat at 11:23 PM on February 26

Beware of cheap poster frames; many of them consist of a sheet of plastic on top with four plastic bits along the edges but not connected to each other; taking them out of the packaging invariably shows that you can get three of the corners to meet and stay together but not the fourth.
posted by johnofjack at 6:48 AM on February 27

You might want to try mountng them on foamcore

As an FYI on foamcore- while it looks good and isn't too expensive I've found that, over time, the foam warps and your poster starts to become concave (convex?).
posted by Challahtronix at 8:23 AM on February 27

I am seconding avoiding foamcore. Even if you manage to get it mounted without making a mess of things (I tried to use spray adhesive), it can warp.
posted by boreddusty at 9:01 AM on February 27

I realize you're asking about a creative desgin but as far as the adhesive goes, are you familiar with 3M poster edges? They're splendid. They really perform, and when you need to take something down, you just pull down on the stretchy tab part and it comes free without bruising your walls or leaving sticky residue. I think they run about $2.00 for a 12 pack. They can hold a pound or more, and they'll outlast your most current tetanus shot.
posted by thebellafonte at 12:15 PM on February 27 [1 favorite]