Remember way back last September when Scott built a new door for the barn? I had the genius idea to re-use the old barn door track inside the house. I assumed it would be an easy little project that would require a couple of bolts and a half hour. But as the way things seem to go around here, it took nearly 6 months to work up enough energy to see my vision through. I finally had to use the ol' tried-and-true "it's Valentine's Day so you have to prove you love me" technique. With the track now installed indoors, I'm happy to invite you to check out our new "gallery."
The old track and its backer board were salvaged from the barn door reconstruction project of September, 2015.
I have thought for a long time that the long hallway behind the kitchen would be the perfect place to display art. Once the old barn door track came down, this space seemed like the obvious place for its reimagined use.
After a few minutes of thinking and discussion, we decided that the best way to hang the track and its backer was to use simple cleats; one on the back of the board would cleave to one screwed to the wall. Scott created the cleats with some salvaged 3/4" pine, creating a 45 degree angle on each.
The finished cleats
Of course, we spent a few minutes sanding to remove any splintery spots.
Scott screwed one set of cleats to the board from the front...
...and the other set of cleats to the wall. We aimed to hang the track at the same height as the pantry's sliding door track across the hall. After a few adjustments with the laser level and fancy guesswork looking for wall studs, the track was up!
The cleats fit snugly to form an interlocking connection which eased some of the difficulty derived from the warped backer board (but you'd be warped, too, if you had been outside for about 100 years.) Note the two oblong rings (they look sorta like paper clips) hanging from the track: I found these several months ago at Home Depot and I figured they would work well as receivers for picture wire. This $1.99 purchase was the only expenditure for this project; all other materials were already in Scott's stockpile.
Ta Da!
The track and backer board are in place!
I love that we brought a little bit of the barn's history indoors.
And now for the artwork.
I had a vintage family photo enlarged to 20x30" and printed on board at Costco for about $20. Rather than place it in a typical frame, we opted to suspend it on wire from the track on the aforementioned rings. By sandwiching the poster between pieces of lathe (we have lots on hand from our old demolition days), the poster won't warp and we add just the right amount of rustic chic decor. The lathe pieces are held together with 3/4" nails, and the picture wire was stapled in place on the back.
Ta Da!
I twisted the picture wire around the rings and the poster was in place. There is plenty of room to create more pieces; I just need to order the posters and have my Valentine chop some lathe to size and drive those tiny nails.
Our first gallery piece is a photo from 1973 when my grandparents took a Colorado vacation with my grandmother's brother and his wife. That's Aunt Marian in the phone booth as my Gramma Pauline looks on and my Grampa Lyle stands guard (by process of elimination, I determined that Uncle Gordon was the photographer.) I plan on sharing more "day-in-the-life" photos in the new gallery space.
Stay Tuned for Our Next Adventure!
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