DIY Wood Photo Backdrop

A couple of weeks ago my dad gave me his old miter saw. He knew I was looking to purchase one and he had been wanting to upgrade. What a great dad, right? As soon as I got the saw I knew the first project I wanted to tackle was making a distressed wood photo backdrop. I love shooting most of my DIYs on white (I use a piece of white Ikea countertop that I got in the markdown section for $3)but  I’ve been wanting to try shooting on other textures. And since I don’t have a rustic farmhouse table, though I wish I did, I decided to make my own little backdrop.

I used 7, 4′ 1″ x 4″ that I cut into 2′ pieces. You can have then cut them down to size at Lowes or Home Depot, but don’t bother telling them what you’re making because they may look at you kind funny and not understand what blogging is, but maybe that’s just my experience. On a more recent trip to Lowes I realized that they sell boards that are only 1/2″ thick which I totally recommend using because it will make your backdrop a lot lighter. Since 1″ x 4″ boards are actually 3/4″ x 3.5″ you’ll need another piece of 2.5″ wood on each side to make it perfectly square. I didn’t do the math before hand so my backdrop isn’t perfectly square, but I’m ok with that since I won’t be photographing the edges anyways.

I started by stacking 7 boards side by side. I left a tiny gap in between each one to make it look a bit more aged and worn. The next layer of boards goes on top, perpendicular to the boards on the bottom.  I used liquid nails and a caulk gun to glue the boards together. If you don’t have a caulk gun you can also use wood glue. Either adhesive will require you to place something heavy on top while it dries. I opted for a ton of random heavy objects that were nearby (like old tile and paint cans). I very impatiently waited 24 hours for the glue to do its thing.

To add an antique look I used some dark walnut brown wood stain to the entire surface. I Stained one side at a time and again impatiently let it dry.

Once the stain is dry, I used some Martha Stewart craft paint I had and a cheap 2″ dry brush to quickly brush on the white paint. The more random the better, so don’t be concerned about how it looks.  Once that was dry, I filled the board over and did the same thing using two shades of teal paint.