One of my favorite parts of my job is styling the home photo
shoots. The photos are used in catalogs and for advertising. They are also the
number one time when I get to imagine something and create my dreams. I love
it! In June I put together a shoot at a local farm. I had pinned this image of
a wallpaper backdrop that I loved (here's a link to my store display Pinterest board). Here’s what I liked about it- it
incorporated wallpaper (one of my favorite mediums), it was feminine, and I
could make it. But I searched everywhere for instructions on how to make it and
I couldn’t, so here’s how I recreated this backdrop in case anyone else wants
to recreate.
1.
I went to the closest wallpaper shop to my work
(Wallpaper Warehouse for Utah locals) and brought my inspiration picture
printed out. The store associate was amazingly helpful! We put together
coordinating wallpaper that mimicked the inspiration. She helped me know how
much to buy- I bought one double roll and two partial rolls. The rest of the
wallpaper was sample pieces that she gave me (so nice! They were small pieces,
but did the job). I spent around $45 on wallpaper and got seven different
varieties.
2.
My biggest concern was what I would use for the
backdrop? I considered wood from Home Depot first, but I knew that would be
expensive and heavy. And when you are dealing with photo shoots, believe me;
you move enough things that you don’t want to worry about a really heavy
backdrop. Then I had foam core recommended to me- you can paint or wallpaper it,
it’s light, and relatively cheap. I got a ten foot by four foot section from a
local printer for $100.
3.
The huge piece of foam core was delivered to my
work and the first thing I did was cut off a four foot section off the top. The
best way to cut foam core is with a straight edge and an exacto knife. Mark
with a pencil where you want to cut and score the line with the exacto knife.
Keep consistent pressure and continue to cut deeper and deeper with the knife.
Soon you will hit the back and you will have a really smooth cut.
4.
Now it’s time to wallpaper! I filled a plastic
bin with water and started with the beige toile wallpaper since it covered the
largest section of the board. It was pretty low pressure since the look of the
backdrop is peeling wallpaper on a wall that is old and has been wallpapered
multiple times. For the jagged edges, I just ripped the wallpaper before
getting it wet. Then I would book the wallpaper, soak it for 15 seconds, and
put it on the board. I used a wallpaper tool to push the seams down. I wasn’t
perfect with this and many of the seams were popping up. But, like I said,
perfection was definitely not the goal.
5.
Once the beige wallpaper was done, I kept adding
other colors until I was happy with how it looked. I next did the blue
wallpaper since it was the next largest section and then did the white with
mini flowers. It took me about two hours to wallpaper the whole thing and clean
up. I left it on the floor to dry and scheduled someone from our warehouse to
pick it up and deliver it with the rest of the furniture (even with cutting it
down, I was concerned it wouldn’t fit in my car).
6.
I was also concerned with how I would stand up
the backdrop. I taped the piece of foam core to the back of the backdrop
thinking it would do the trick, but it didn’t stick or hold up the height of
the backdrop. On location, we just propped a chair that we weren’t shooting and
it stood up just great. Side note, the spare piece of foam core worked great as
a reflector for the photographer- bonus!
So that is how I made a wallpaper photo backdrop! Below are
the professional photographs of the wallpaper in action (photographer credits
on all below photos: Grant Heaton). I love how it turned out, so pretty and
very shabby chic! For more photo shoot pictures that I styled, click here.
