How to Frame a Large Poster, Build a Frame from Moulding

While shopping for a world map to pin all the locations we had traveled to I found a large one for less than $8 and immediately brought it home with me. It is about 3 1/2 x 4 1/2 feet and I knew it would make an interesting piece of art for a wall someplace at home. I loved its neutral tones and splashes of color. Before I hung it up I had to figure out how to hang a large poster.

We eventually got it up on the wall in the living room and I’m about to show you the step by step. Stick with me folks this will be a long but informative post, I promise 🙂 This post contains affiliate links.

Here are your supplies:

Large poster/map/art
Large foam board
Spray adhesive
Binder clips
Credit card for flattening the poster
Large drop cloth
Miter saw
Wood trim for frame
Corner bracket fastener
Wood screws – size will depend not the thickness of your wood
Tape
Picture hanging hardware
Paint for frame (up to you)

Since I knew I wanted to hang this up, I was not about to have it framed because it would have cost me probably $672 and I was not about to spend that. I had to figure out another way to get in on some kind of lightweight backing to be able to frame and hang it without it weighting a ton.

My solution was a foam board which is sold at most craft or art supply stores. This large size is from an art store, try there to get a big one, depending on what size you need.

To adhere the poster/map to the foam board, we decided to use spray adhesive. Lay the board on a tarp so you don’t spray the adhesive onto your floors {and just wipe it off with a damp cloth when it does happen}, and spray away.

To keep the map down we used binder clips to secure it to the board. Since you probably will have to trim at least 2 of the edges of the board, line up 2 edges so you don’t have to cut all of the edges off. It will save you time. This is what it will look like when we were lining it up to be sprayed.

Since the map was so big, it’s OK if you kind of center it on the board too. This way in case it’s crooked, it will still be all the way on the board and you can trim the excess later.

It helps if you spray and smooth in small sections. Using a credit card or something will help with any bubbles. Then let it dry.

In order to trim off the excess foam board, I used a long ruler and an rolling trimmer. I also used a piece of the trim since the ruler was not long enough. More on the trim later. Just run the roller or exacto knife along the edge of the poster and crack off the board where you don’t need it.

The kitchen island comes in handy for this project. This is what it looked like when I trimmed all 4 sides. They don’t have to be perfectly clean since you will cover them with trim anyway.

And now, how to make a large frame. I picked out the only trim I could find at the home improvement store that had a ledge like you would put a picture inside of it just like we are doing.

This is the profile of that trim.

Buy enough to cover all sides and paint the trim. It’s important to do this before as once you put the frame together it might be a bit hard to spray or paint.

Miter the corners of the pieces to fit the length of the width and height of your poster ad best you can. Here is a great post by Pretty Handy Girl on how to use a miter saw.

And glue them end to end. You can use clamps to hold them. The glue won’t totally hold these corners together, but it will help. It also is good to lay the frame together upside down, meaning with the front on the ground, it will help with the next step. Although that is not what this picture is of!

You can see how off this cut was, but don’t worry if your corners are not perfect, that’s what wood putty is for!

In order to hold the corners together I used these corner pieces and wood screws. Make sure you find screws short enough that they won’t go all the way through to the front of your frame.

Carefully drill them into the corners of the back of your frame. Carefully is a key work in that sentence!

In order to keep the frame together I also used a band clamp. This is basically a long piece of nylon with a clamp on the one side to wrap around pieces you want to hold together.

We wrapped it around the frame to hold it together and it helped a great deal.

Since this frame was so large, it’s not the sturdiest thing, but the corner brackets will keep it together. After you screwed those in, next up is putting in the art.

I just used black gorilla tape to hold the map on the foam board in the frame. Pretty simple.

After that you get your handsome assistant to move the couch and hang it up. You can also glue on frame hangers onto the frame at this point. We used the zig zag ones.

You’ll notice this project was done even before the new ottoman. I’m kind of behind on showing you projects, but that just means I have some great stuff lined up until the new year!