Project 52: DIY Backdrop (Pinterest Fail)

This one was a little bit fun, mostly frustrating, and a huge Pinterest fail.

Funny enough, I am SO pleased with the final product (the pictures, NOT the backdrop).

It all started when I saw these beautiful DIY backdrop stands on Pinterest a few months back. I thought in my head, “Are you KIDDING ME?! Those are ADORABLE and look TOTALLY EASY! Husband will DEFINITELY be able to build this.”

Hands up how many people have thought those exact same thoughts when they stumble upon cute and dreamy DIY Pins? Pinterest is dangerous for idealists like myself.

These backdrops were only a dream, up until 2 weeks ago when a friend’s sister-in-law (the one who made the cake for the baby shower I threw) asked if I could take some pictures of her little girl. “Great!” I thought, “I can finally make that backdrop I’ve been meaning to!”

I excitedly went to the fabric store, in search of the beautiful fabric that would become my backdrop. This trip was the most successful part of the project. I found this awesome paisley blue fabric in clearance for 1$ a metre! I bought 3 metres (way too much) which came to $3.50. What a steal!

My husband, my dear sweet husband, is a realist at heart, but often gets convinced by my passionate and idealist self, to try these “really easy and affordable” Pinterest projects. Even though he knows something won’t work, and will often gently tell me so, he loves my energy and excitement so will try his hardest to make it work. I love him. When I showed him the PVC pipe backdrop, he shook his head, but I exclaimed, “Don’t worry it will be SO EASY! It will only take 10 minutes to assemble!” Haha.

I first should have known this wasn’t going to be as easy as I thought when we found out that Home Depot did not carry the joints for the pretty, white , and dainty 3/4 in. PVC pipe. Instead we had to go for the ugly, black, and huge 1 1/2 in pipe. It also happened to be more expensive. In total it was 28$ for the pipe and the joints.

Next was the flooring. I wanted a case of laminate flooring, which I figured would be fairly cheap. WRONG-O. It was 27$ for the flooring, but I have to say that it is beautiful and I love it. And thankfully, the flooring is something I plan to re-use.

We had a white baseboard that I planned to use at home. YES. I love reusing things.

Finally, the last and most challenging part was assembling and attaching the backdrop to the PVC frame. In my head, this would be simple to set up and easy to tear down. Just unclamp the clamps, take the pipe out of the joints, and store until the next time it needed to be used. In the Pinterest pictures, they use several clamps to attach the backdrop. I also read that they used double-sided carpenter’s tape to make it stay. Since we went for the larger pipe, the larger clamps were significantly more expensive at $7 each. Plus, they only had 2! I figured the tape would work.

When used for plumbing, PVC pipe is glued into the joints. Since I didn’t want it to be permanent, I didn’t glue them…but they would just not stay in! I ended up taping them together.

Trying to keep the fabric wrinkle free was so challenging. Only having 2 clamps really pulled the fabric, and the tape didn’t do a very good job sticking to the fabric.