A couple of years ago the blog world was a buzz with engineers prints. What are engineers prints? Well engineers prints are available at Staples or Kinko’s and they are 3’x4′ black and white prints for only $7.99. I have seen the price vary a bit and sometimes be less, but in NY I haven’t found anything cheaper than $7.99.
I decided to use one for my latest True Value DIY Squad and I tweaked it a bit and instead of one massive photograph I decided to slice mine into 4! The DIY steps are available here.
Additionally here are some tips I recommend for using engineer prints:
Tip 1: Make sure your image is hi-res. So put away your iphone camera and whip out your DSLR to take the perfect photo. I like to use stock photography a lot when I’m searching for images, because it’s super budget friendly and you can choose from a variety of resolutions so you can always order the largest size.
Tip 2: Edit your photo. These prints are only available in black and white so once you have done that play around with the sharpness and contrast to get a nice crisp image.
Tip 3: Check the measurements on your finished product before leaving printing center. I can’t tell you how many times I get home and notice that they put a white border around my image and now my photo doesn’t really fill the 3’x4′ space. I have never had an issues having the printing center re-do it, but how annoying to have to go back.
Tip 4: Handle with care. The paper quality is not ideal on these prints. They are super thin, which isn’t ideal, but nothing you can work with to save on costs. Just be gentle with it, because it rips easily and smudges easily too. It almost has a newspaper quality to it and the black ink can get messed up quickly.
Tip 5: Don’t mod podge or seal the paper! So many tutorials tell you to do this, but I have tried it a bunch of times and it’s never worked for me. It always gets way to wet and starts to rip the paper. Even the lightest coats have ruined pieces for me. It’s something that’s going up on a wall and isn’t going to be touched on a daily basis. I say leave it as is.
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ON THE BLOG
My living room is one of the rooms that evolved drastically from when we first moved one. Originally I painted the walls chocolate brown and did accents of white, blue and orange. That lasted maybe 2 years.
Our dining room sat empty for months. Okay maybe it was empty for just a handful of weeks and then we couldn’t take it anymore and put in a folding table and plastic outdoor chairs, but in my mind that was still empty.
On the main floor of our house we have a Florida room. Being that it’s a Florida room it is a considered a 3 season room, because there is no heat in the room. The previous owners used it as an indoor patio with outdoor furniture and it looked like this when we moved in.
Hey, I love your blog!! Can you tell me what sites you recommend most for stock photography?
Thanks so much!
Gina