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!