DIY framed board game/art

Even though the temperature outside wants to keep it a secret, spring is coming. As is spring cleaning. In an effort to get a head start I have been trying to slowly purge our basement of stuff and things that have accumulated down there. I have been doing pretty well; getting rid something every day. 

While I was cleaning up down there the other day I came across our collection of board games. I remember thinking "Oh thats where Candyland is. Why don't we play this anymore? The kids loved it." The simple answer is because that game, among others, was being stored in our cluttered basement, all but forgotten about. 

So I decided to do something about that.  The Candyland game board in particular is a riot of fun colours and images. Just the sort of thing that would look adorable in our playroom/ daycare space. I thought if I could take the game board out of the box and hang it on the wall like a piece of art we could appreciate the fun game board while also helping us remember to play it more often. 

I started by looking for a picture frame in which to hang the game board. But game boards are not standard sizes and I couldn't find anything that was going to fit.  Custom framing? Not for hundreds of dollars, thankyouverymuch!  I am a moderately intelligent, reasonably capable woman... I could make my OWN frame. Right? Right?........

Off to the hardware store I ventured and bought a 7ft length of molding for $4.50. 

After carefully measuring (measure twice, cut once!) I cut the molding at 45 degree angles. 

Measuring against the game board.

 On most board games there is a thin black boarder (as you will notice in the photo above) that  outlines the actual game board.  When you take your measurements take them from the game board itself so you can use that black boarder space to adhere the board to your frame in a later step.

Cutting at 45 degrees

Cut.  Next measurement. 

 Dry fit your pieces together to be sure that they fit and work with your board.

Starting to look like a frame

 Quickly sand the edges.

Those man hands belong to That Guy who very sweetly
helped me with this project. They are not my hands ;)

 Using some liquid nails and a staple gun (seriously, how fun are staple guns?!) attach the frame pieces.

Liquid nails and my staple gun

 Liquid nails went between each join.  After the liquid nails was dry-ish I flipped the frame over and stapled the back of the frame across the joins as shown below.

Stapled

 Next I dug out a piece of cardboard from our basement to use as a frame backing.

Cardboard backing

And cut it to fit slightly larger than the frame opening.

Cut to size

 I ran a bead of liquid nails along the black boarder of the game board and pressed it onto the frame. Using my nail gun I attached the cardboard back to the frame

Nice snug game board

 Two quick coats of white paint on the frame and it was done!

Painters tape is the friend of a sloppy painter (me)

Notched out and attached hanging hardware and we were pretty much done.

Hanging hardware

I thought I should show you, my gentle readers, where I hung my fun new art.  I replaced this art... and by "art" I mean a piece of scrapbook paper in a dollar store frame.  It was too small for the wall and frankly never intended to be permanent decor.

too small art

 What a difference with the Candyland board there instead.

The colours are so fun

Now Walter and Audrey can play anytime. We can just take it down from the wall and play as is, in the frame.  When we are done it just gets hung back up. Tidy and pretty!

Happy kids

Taa-daa!