Creating a new design wall

I have been wanting a new and improved design wall in my sewing room. Until now I have been used felt covered display boards (the tri-fold type of foam core) that I simply hung on hooks. These provided about 4 1/2 feet square of space, which was fine for my watercolor wall hangings, but not enough for a quilt layout. A couple of my Bee friends use flannel covered construction foam insulation boards that are screwed/nailed to the wall of their sewing space. So I whined enough to my husband and he has come up with a design to easily hang the design wall and also allow it to be moved!

First, he installed a narrow crown molding ( about 1 1/2" wide) about 12 inches from the ceiling, and about 8 inches from the existing crown molding. The flat portion of the back of the crown molding was nailed to the wall into the studs. The top edge does not touch the wall, and will be the lip--or French cleat--that the design wall panels will hang onto.

The second photo shows how the

cleats will hang onto the molding strip. The thin slats shown hanging here will be attached to the back of the construction foam insulation board with construction adhesive. The third photo shows the slat attached. Not only will they provide additional support for the insulation, they will be what we staple the flannel cover to. The top portion of the hanger is a 5 inch piece of molding that Russ screwed to the thin slat. This makes a perfect match for the french cleat. Additional slats will be attached across the top, middle and bottom of each board.

Russ got to use a lot of his tools and gadgets for this.....stud finder, laser level, nail gun and compressor, hand saw, screw driver, and a few more I am sure.

The next step is to cover both boards with flannel and staple it to the back. I purchased a double brushed flannel 108 inches wides from my favorite shopping site, fabric.com , for this. So check back for the next steps and see the end result.