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DIY Photobooth Wall

DIY Photobooth Wall

This may be the ultimate DIY project for weddings this season. Specially if I tell you that Laura and her fiancé made this photobooth wall for only $80. Using vintage wallpaper, a frame found at a thrift store and some plywood they made a free standing wall to be used for their photobooth. Now, on to the details:

From Laura:
This was a fantastic way to get my fiance involved. I also would like to mention that neither of us had ever ‘built’ anything before, so this project would definitely be quick and easy for those of you with more experience!

DIY Photobooth Wall

What you’ll need:
– Plywood (all wood and tools from Home Depot)
– (2) 2’x3’ Wood beams
– Sawhorse
– Ruler/Measuring tape
– Hammer and nails
– Wood screws
– Handheld jigsaw
– Handheld drill
– Mod Podge
– Paintbrush
– Waterproof sealant
– Vintage picture frame (I got mine at a thrift store)
– Vintage wallpaper (eBay)
– Floor molding (optional)

DIY Photobooth vintage Wallpaper frame background

Instructions:
Step 1: The plywood usually comes in a 4’x8’ sized sheet. To make it easier, have the store cut the top for you – we asked for a 19” cut to make the final height 6’5”.

Step 2: Lay your plywood flat on the sawhorse. Measure your picture frame. Make sure you start your measurements near the middle of the frame itself – you don’t want the plywood to show on the inside of the frame, nor would you want gaps around the outside of the frame! Decide where you want your frame to be, and draw your measurements on the wood.

Step 3: Use a drill bit large enough to make a hole the width of the jigsaw blade in all corners of your measurements on the plywood. Now use the handheld jigsaw to cut out the entire shape.

Step 4: Stand the plywood upright. Cut each of your beams to about 5’ high. Measure and cut a 70 degree angle off the top of the beam. Hold this up to your wood frame until the angle lies completely flat against the block. Now take a ruler and place it horizontally on the ground, against the bottom of the beam, and use it to draw a line against the wood. Cut with the jigsaw – this will make the bottom of the beam level with the ground. Using the excess wood, cut (2) 10” pieces to use as mounting blocks. On the “back” of the frame, nail a mounting block onto each side. Make sure you hammer the nails through the front, so the heads are flush with the wood. Set the (2) beams aside for later.

Step 5: Lay your frame back onto the sawhorse. Measure and cut your wallpaper to size. Working with one strip at a time, brush your mod podge (what I had on-hand, but if you have wallpaper paste, that would probably work well, too) onto the top third of the wood. Line up and press your wallpaper onto it. Run over the surface with a ruler or other flat object to make sure there are no air pockets. Repeat for the middle and bottom third and all remaining strips of wallpaper until the entire front of the wood is covered. Let dry for at least 24 hours.

Step 6: Brush a thin layer of waterproof sealant over the entire surface of the wallpaper. Let dry for at least 24 hours.

Step 7: Optional: We really wanted to make it look like a piece of an actual wall, so we cut (2) 4’ long pieces of floor molding and attached one to the top and bottom of the wood frame, with Gorilla Glue.

Step 8: Stand the wood frame upright. Take one of the 5’ beams that you cut earlier and line it up against one of the mounting blocks. Drill 2 pilot holes (one on top, one 4 to 6 inches directly below the first hole) through the beam and partly into the mounting block. Next, screw the wood screws into the pilot holes. We used a 2” screw for the top (the thinner part of the beam) and a 2 3/4” screw for the bottom. Repeat for the other side.

Step 9: Mount your picture frame over the hole. Whew, you’re done! Now take your new “photobooth” somewhere pretty and snap away!

View Comments (46)
    • It is cute I want for my dream wedding but how tall is it because I am 4″9

  • What a lovely DIY project! I wish I had the space and the skill to make this, it would be so great at my wedding!

    I love all the DIY projects actually, thanks and keep posting more please!

  • This is great! Fortunately for me my fiance loves carpentry and we’d be able to whip this up in no time! Thank you!

  • THANK YOU so, so much for this; my fiance and I fell in love with the idea of a photobooth wall, but struggled to conceptualize how to make it…this is perfect!!

  • This could be fun at ANY type of party. Oh all the ideas!

  • whoa! so darn cute! I can see lots of different ways to use this! Thanks for the how to’s!

    gail

  • Found this through the CRAFT blog, and I’m blown away! I really, really want one of these.

  • I love the “photo booth”! I had an actually photo booth at my wedding, but this is an awesome idea! I think I may just build this for some of the parties we have at the house.
    Just in case anyone is looking for the fabulous mustache and lips on a stick you can get them from the WhiskerWorks on Etsy (https://www.etsy.com/people/whiskerworks). I ordered a few of them.

  • Now THIS is the coolest thing I’ve seen in a loong time! Love it!!

  • my best friend and her hubby did this for their wedding and it was fabulous! looked so unique and wonderful, and so good in all the pics. love it!

  • Wow! I’m loving this one. Actually, I’m really enjoying all the DIY projects you’ve been posting lately–but this one is especially impressive.

  • This is beyond genius! I so wanted a sort of photo background for my 21st birthday a few years back but I had no idea how to go about it. Now I know! Thanks! This looks marvellous.

  • Thanks for the positive feedback, everyone!! We live in a townhouse (no yard!) and did all the “construction” in our garage so it really doesn’t take much space at all!

    Let me know if you have any other questions. This was such a fun project for us to do together. Feel free to email me: ljong @ mail.com

  • Wow, Laura. I’m very impressed by your creativity. It’s going to be grand. Cheers to a fabulous wedding.

  • I love this idea! Did you have someone available to take the photos? I’d love to have a DIY photobooth for our wedding next year and this wall would be so cute!

  • I LOVE this post!! i wanted to let you know that i did a little re-post on my blog, which a couple of the pictures then with a link back to you, and this post for all the great details and how tos. Thanks for sharing this great idea!!

  • My friend and I want to try to do this for her wedding. The only question I have is, how do you print the pics out at the reception? (what kind of hook up did you use) We would like to have a scrapbook there so we can have people put their pics in and write a message. Any ideas on how to make that work? Thanks!

  • I LOVE YOU! I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR SOMETHING LIKE THIS FOR AGESSSS! X

  • I LOVE THIS! What a cracking idea. I am so going to attempt it myself. Thank you xx

  • So AWESOME! I love this, and the life long memories it is going to create at their wedding. What a personal touch to their wedding.

  • LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE…. oh I just want one at my house for no reason at all. May have to do this for a ‘vintage fairy tale’ themed baby shower I’m throwing in a few weeks…. I can incorporate it somehow 😉

  • Such a great, simple yet effective idea! I think we will have to try and build one of these too.

  • Great creative project! Would love to know how the rest of the photobooth was set up? Did you set it all up yourself and how did it work on the night? Thanks so much for sharing your ideas!

  • I had a similar idea for backdrops etc using wallpaper.. but its only usefull for headshots etc.

  • Just absolutely looove this!! We are making one for our wedding, too, just a little bit bigger. My fiance suggested we could also use some crown molding around the peek-through holes instead of a real frame. It’s a bit less costly for anyone out there concerned about that, and they do have some pretty ornate stuff at the Home Depot. We also bid on a lot of 10 frames on e-bay to put up our relatives’ wedding photos on the wall. Thanks so much for the best idea ever – I seriously think this will make our wedding!

  • What a great idea! I particularly love the vintage wallpaper look, classic. Keep up the good work!

  • We did this for our wedding! I wish I could send you a photo so you could see how ours turned out! Thank you for the idea it was loved by all!

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