Hanging posters, artwork, calendars and fabric wall pieces can be a problem, especially in children’s rooms. Tape and adhesives dry out and leave residues. Tacks and nails leave crumbling plaster and holes to patch. Corkboard is a pretty good solution, but to be useful it has to cover a lot of wall, and the accompanying tacks aren’t advisable in rooms for young children. To avoid all of these problems, I designed the mounting system shown in the drawing below left for use in my son’s room.
My mounting strip is a long clamp made up of two 3/4-in. by 2-in. strips of wood. The strips are drilled and counterbored for 1/4-in. carriage bolts 2-1/2 in. long. The board that applies the pressure has 5/16-in. holes drilled in it to accept the bolts and a strip of foam weatherstripping along the bottom edge to better grip whatever gets placed between the strips. I drilled the bolt holes 21 in. apart for strips 25 in. long. To apply the clamping pressure, I used wood drawer knobs with nuts epoxied into their bases.
John Roccanova, Ancramdale, NY
