Ideas for Your Walls
Walls Can Be Fun!
One of my favorite websites is Retro Renovation. It has lots of great tips for home decorations and turns up many vintage suppliers who are still doing business. One idea I liked on their website was displaying old album covers and that led to this Rancho Redux website which showed a great way to display album covers and other similar-sized collectibles.
After seeing this I thought of other things that could go up on my walls. One idea was old board games. This is especially good for that childhood game with missing pieces that can’t be played anymore but still has nostalgic value. Such a game is the Leave it to Beaver game shown below.
Game boards are light and can be hung by three or four sticky-back plastic hooks. For the game box I wrapped fishing line around two corners and tied it to a safety pin and hung it on a picture hook (see photo below).
For the George Gobel game at left I also used some Sticky Tack to put a couple of game pieces and a die on the game board to give a 3-D effect.
Ads Look Good, Too
Antique magazine ads are increasingly popular for decorating homes and businesses. Designmodo website says “Since most of the vintage advertisements are of size 10*13, they are mainly used for framing and matting. It looks very appealing to the customers and it is majorly used by people in salons, doctor’s clinics, car dealers, and in many other businesses.”
There are many ways to display and enjoy antique advertising. Some people keep them in large albums or scrapbooks but it’s more fun to display them and add a touch of nostalgia to your home.
Some customers go all out and have them matted and framed such as in the two liquor ads shown below but this is considerably more expensive.
The quickest way is to use a glass frame (see Texaco ad) available at most craft shops. They cost about $12 and are quick, easy and changeable.
Ads can also be mounted on foam core like the New Mexico ad below. These are a bit more expensive (about $14 in my town) and take longer but they are neat, clean and easy to hang.
Inspired by information on the Rancho Redux website about displaying old album coversdiscussed above I’ve found a fun and inexpensive way to display vintage advertising. For the albums the Rancho Redux people used channeled aluminum but I had a hard time finding it in my area. I was, however, able to find plastic strips called end caps in the kitchen area of Home Depot at $3 for an eight-foot piece.
I cut it into two four-foot strips, nailed it up and slid the ads in between them. If I wanted to I could trim the backing boards so the top channel would be closer to the actual ad.
The great thing about this display is that it can be easily changed to match the season or your mood (cigarettes above, cars below).
