How to make a gigantic photo board!

So I've been wanting to make a magnetic photo board for a really long time, and being in CT away from family has finally pushed me to do it. This is completely inspired by my mother in law. She has this amazing, HUGE photo board in her house and I'm glued to it every time I'm there. So I made my own :) They were pretty expensive online, and I couldn't really find one that was big enough so I thought this was a good option instead. 

Materials: (all from home depot)

24x36 galvanized steel sheet ($10)

pine wood - 2 sides 36.5 inches and 2 sides 24.5 inches (approx $8)

wood joiners ($1.50)

wood glue ($3.50)

clamps ($1)

wood finish - jacobean 2750 ($5)

1/2 inch nails ($2)

frame hanging kit (wire, hooks etc) ($3)

hammer

Excited at home depot :)

I wanted to show as much of the steel sheet as possible to allow more photo space. I had the home depot people cut the wood so that it would overlap the steel by 1 inch, just enough to nail it to the back. 

The measurements ended up being the 2 longer sides at 36.5 inches and the 2 shorter sides at 24.5 inches

I tested out the wood finish on some scrap wood and LOVED how it turned out. 

Before I did this project I didn't even know that you had to wipe off the stainer. Shows how experienced I am with this stuff, but I still think it turned out great.

I let it sit for a while and then wiped off the excess. I love how deep and rich the color turned out.

I glued the edges with wood glue and hammered in the wood joiners. I also clamped where the wood joined to make it as sturdy as possible. This is where I discovered our kitchen floor was no where near level and it ended up pretty wonky haha. 

Then I nailed the steel sheet to the back. My frame was a little wobbly up until this point but it became a lot more sturdy after this step. I probably used about 4-5 nails on each side.

Then I added the pictures (magnetized) and voila! One gigantic photo board!

Congratulations Joseph and Jenica!

A big congratulations to Joseph and Jenica who were married on Friday 26th September! We're so happy to have Jenica join the family! It was a perfect day, the most perfect part being inside the temple. 

The happy couple!

It was really windy.

Abby is almost as tall as Dad!

I'm sure there must be one where everyone is actually smiling, but I can't find one. So maybe not!

They had a lovely garden reception!

Beautiful!

I love this picture of Grandma. Abby was blowing bubbles at her.

We could hear thunder in the distance, see lightening and feel light rain...but it mainly held off until after the reception :)

Cutting the cake - followed by a very 'smushy' cake swap!

Mother / son dance

Their first dance was very sweet. They actually danced, not just swayed! Impressive! Video below :)

Congratulations again and welcome to married life Mr & Mrs. Burgan!

Coast to coast in 3 months. Sure, why not?

After a fabulous summer in San Francisco, Spencer got a great job in Wilton, Connecticut! He is a Copywriter for an advertising agency named Tracy Locke.

But that meant we had to move. Again. But this time it was a little further than California. 2,977 miles further. So we packed up our apartment in California and moved everything back to Utah. We decided to skip the whole cross-country U-Haul drama again and just take whatever would fit in our Accord with us to Connecticut. We were able to rebuild pretty fast and cheaply in Cali so it wasn't too daunting - until we saw how much we had stored in Utah. And thus began the ultimate sort out. 

Take it, sell it, DI it, give it away, throw it away, or store it? 

What I was hoping would fit in our car. Plus us. Plus the dog. Wishful thinking?

We were packed in there like sardines. But it all fit! And more :)

 

Disclaimer: No cute animals were harmed in this move! 

He was so good the entire way there. All 4 days of it!

It was quite an uneventful drive (thankfully no car problems at all!) but we did get to stop in Kirtland and look at a few of the church history sites there. 

We spent about 3 nights in various hotels while we apartment searched like crazy people in any location within 30 mins of Wilton. (Wilton is the center of expense...yey). 

Stanley tried to be helpful, but wasn't. 

Our thoughts on CT so far. 

We eventually found a place! We're living in Ansonia. It's got character. 

(Cool house, but not our house)

It feels like we've been to Ikea a hundred times trying to decide on various furniture for our apartment. We'd never built Ikea furniture before, needless to say we had to stop and make brownies a couple times to get through it. The bed wasn't that bad to make, but that dresser...

Ta da!

Spencer's first day of work! Yes, I still take these pictures. 

He's enjoying his job so far. It's only week 2 and he's mainly working on Pepsi.

We're excited to be on the East Coast for a while, even though it is very different to anywhere we have ever lived. It feels most similar to England because of how green it is and how curvy and narrow the roads are sometimes. We've already made a bucket list (check it out) of everything we want to try and do while we are here, however long that may be!

East Coast Bucket List

We're not sure how long we will be on the East Coast but we'll make the most of it while we are here :)

Connecticut 

Yale University

Yale University Art Gallery

Yale Center for British Art

Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library

Mystic Aquarium

Maritime Aquarium (Norwalk)

Essex steam boat and riverboat

Niantic - #1 voted town (shop at Grace and The Book Barn)

Lake Compounce Theme Park (Bristol)

Mark Twain House (Hartford)

To see leaves in CT

Litchfield Hills

Kent

Sleeping Giant State Park (Hamden)

New York

Times Square

Statue of Liberty

Central Park

Metropolitan Museum of Art

Museum of Modern Art

P.S 1 Contemporary Art Center

Grand Central Terminal

Lion King Museum

Be in New York for Sep 11th

Grimaldis Pizzeria

New York Pizza

Manhattan Temple

West Village (cobbled streets etc)

Boston

Boston Temple

Sleepy Hollow - go in October
Salem - go in October

Old North Church

Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum

USS Constitution

Beacon Hill

Little Brewster Island and Lighthouse

Captain Jackson's Historic Chocolate Shop

Trinity Church

Washington D.C

Smithsonian

White House

Capitol

Teddy Roosevelt Memorial

Lincoln Memorial

Washington Memorial

Vietnam Memorial

WWII Memorial

Philadelphia

Philly Cheesesteak 

Independence Hall

Liberty Bell

Reading Terminal Market

Philadelphia Museum of Art

Barnes Foundation

Benjamin Franklin Museum