If you saw my post yesterday about the rustic Christmas trees, did you notice that they weren’t staged in front of my privacy fence like I usually do? I have rigged up a new system. I got the idea from my friend Catherine (Freddy & Petunia) while I was at Haven in August.
Here is the dresser bench. You can see that it’s not the perfect solution—the drop cloth is a little wrinkled, but it looks better than this one:
This is what I used—a 9x12 drop cloth, a 2x4x10, 2 bungees, and a staple gun.
I stapled the drop cloth to the 2x4, and suspended it in front of my “paint booth” with bungees. When I’m done, I sort of fold the bottom up over the 2x4 a couple of times. Like I said, it’s not perfect, but it works for now. Ideally, I’d like to get a cardboard roll, maybe from a carpet store, so that it might be easier to put away.
I suppose if you know how to edit photos, you may be able to fill the background with a different color.
I closed up the summer shop yesterday, meaning I put away my work table, and stored would be projects until Spring. We are suppose to turn cold and get some snow and ice. It’s time to think about opening up the winter shop in the basement. Because of my shoulder injury I didn’t use that shop at all last winter.
I worked feverishly yesterday trying to get this kid’s bench painted. Here it is after a coat of DIY Primer and 1 Ā½ coats of semi-gloss. This is one of the projects that got moved into storage. It still needs a few touch-ups, hardware, and something soft—perhaps pillows or a cushion. Even though it’s not finished, I wanted to show you an update. 
It was almost dark as I finished up, so I couldn’t test my new backdrop to take this picture.
Do you have a secret to staging/styling your painted pieces? I don’t have room in my house, nor am I able to drag them in even if I had a place to make them look homey. Do you have any suggestions to make my backdrop work better? Spill it! I’m all ears! I have a few months to perfect it.
EDITED to ADD! I came up with my own solution--It's a DIY portable Wall to use as a backdrop.
gail
Gail Wilson is the author and mastermind behind My Repurposed Life. She is obsessed with finding potential in unexpected places and believes that with a little hard work and imagination, any old thing can be made useful again, including herself!
Gail reinvented herself during a midlife crisis and has found purpose again. She hopes you will find new ideas for old things and pick up a few tools along the way.
Nancy
Why not reverse it into the garage with the garage down during the winter for photographs?
Blane
For smaller items, old roll up movie projector screens work great. Off white background with no reflective glare.
Catherine
Glad you tried it out Gail!
Btw~ I used a spray bottle of warm water to spritz down my canvas to let the wrinkles fall out.
I LUV the idea of the carpet roll to "put it away!" Guess what I'm looking for now-- ; D
Catherine
Carol Plantz
Great idea and great bench. I will have to try that idea. At this time, not for a backdrop for pretties...............but once I added some drop cloths wrapped around the sides of the garage, I could spray paint a little neater. Except, I do have a variety of different colored art work on my drive way. LOL. No one else was impressed with it though. Nor the ones in the grass.
Laura Clark
What a clever idea! Might I suggest the SteamMachine to steam out the wrinkles in the drop cloth? Wink, wink.
Love the white bench.
Laura Clark
HomeRight
gail@myrepurposedlife.net
Laura,
š you're so clever! Always thinking (working)
gail
Pam
I love both the tree and the bench....great job.
Diane
I'm not at that sot quite yet and have had to pretty much close up everything for the winter. My garage is my work space and we got 6-8 inches of snow with below zero temps coming in the next few days.
When I was at the RE-Store I saw some full door shutters that caught my eye. A couple of sets on wheels and it could roll away and fold up for staging.
Pat
Gail! This is a great idea.
I would think even in your winter shop...this may work on a smaller scale. I have a hard time finding a place to photograph my 'smalls' for my shop. With my everyday 'living' going on in the back ground and my house decor...trying to find just the right place to photograph a vintage dish is difficult, plus you want the lighting to be good. I don't have a light box...should probably make one (don't you have a tutorial for one of those on your blog some place?
Anyway-- the drop cloth on a smaller scale may do the trick for me. I'm going to give it a try!
Patricia
girlfromwva
looks like a great solution to your needs!!!
Grace Nielsen
You could also get the cardboard roll that decorator fabrics come on
from JoAnn's or another local fabric store! The width of the drop cloth will be greater
than the length of the cardboard tube, but that shouldn't matter. Thread some rope through
the cardboard roll/tube and attach that to your garage?!!
Should work like a window shade - kinda/sortof??!!!
gail@myrepurposedlife.net
Grace,
I would really need the full 9 ft length for my furniture pieces. I purposely bought this size of drop cloth to expand the entire opening of the carport. I tried this with a smaller drop cloth a few months ago, and it just didn't work. Thanks so much for your input!
gail