Christmas is hands down my favourite time of year. It’s also one of the only holidays that I go all crazy and decorate just about every square inch of my home! While other holidays will usually get a porch treatment and table centerpiece, Christmas is ALL over the house!
This year, since we moved into our new home, I’ve been trying to slowly add our pictures to the walls and see where they all fit. I went to hang the ‘girls’ that I in my previous office in our new family living room and while they worked in the old space, they just weren’t feeling like they were fitting in, especially not for Christmas. But I didn’t want to leave the walls bare, nor was I willing to spends hundreds of dollars on art that would be temporary…as we still haven’t figured out exactly what we are doing with the space.
So I brainstormed some ideas and I remembered seeing an old post online about oversized prints that looked similar to blueprints and thought maybe I could try that! I couldn’t even remember the right name for them, so I just kept googling various phrases until I figured out that they were called engineer prints and you can get them done at Staples (or other local copy stores).
I posted a video for Vlogmas Day 2 down below which shows me putting them in the frames and how they turned out, but after a few questions on where I found the prints and how I ordered them, I figured I’d do a quick blog post to share that info with you! So here it is!
To start, I needed to know the size of my frames. They are the largest RIBBA ones from Ikea, sized 61cm x 91cm (24in x 36in). So when I was searching for the prints, I just made sure that in the description of the sizes, the prints all said they could be blown up to that size without pixelating.
When it came to searching for prints, I went on Pinterest first. The only free ones that I liked that were large enough came from The Girls With Glasses. They have a series of three images, but I only really like the one pinecone. So I downloaded it and saved it.
Then I went to Etsy to find some inexpensive ones that I could purchase. I found the deer print from ShakArts for about $8 and then the set of three evergreen trees from DiaModernDesign for also about $8. Again, make sure when you are ordering prints that you check in the descriptions to see if they are big enough for the size frame you have!
Both of those prints were instant downloads, so once my payment cleared, they were emailed to me!
Then I went onto Staples copy and print centre and uploaded the prints. If you aren’t familiar with the Staples site, I won’t lie, it can be a little tricky to use. I’ve ordered so many prints from them over the years that I have it figured out but I can remember thinking early on that it wasn’t super user friendly. Once you go to print the document, choose the same day printing service. It will then take you to a page where you can upload the documents. You will have to check off that you have permission to reprint. Then it will take you to the selection page – this is where you select the engineer prints!
Now, this gets a little tricky because it doesn’t say “engineer print” for size options – it’s simply the sizes. So you should know that there are TWO sizes for engineer prints – 18×24 and 24×36. I also should let you know that I totally printed the smaller size by accident first and then had to get them reprinted! So make sure you triple check your sizes!! The 18×24 is about $2 and the 24×36 just under $4.
Add them to your cart, select the store you want to pick them up at, enter your payment info and then you’re good to go! Most of the time, I find that my prints are done within two hours and when they are, you will get an email notification to go pick them up!
One thing to note is that engineer paper is THIN…it’s not like poster paper at all. That’s why it’s so inexpensive and also why it gives it that rustic look to it. So it WILL crease and mark up SUPER easily. The sales associate at mine had wrapped the posters SO tightly that it creased them all and we had to reprint them (which they were fine to do for free). So make a note when you are ordering them online (or call the local store) and ask them to NOT roll or fold them. Then just be careful when you pick them up and bring them home!
And that is how you get super inexpensive, oversized engineer prints for your wall art! Click below to see how it all turned out!
Love & Blessings,
Christine
