Today’s Hint: 7 Clever (and Frugal) Ways to Display Kid Art

My daughter hasn’t made any artwork yet – she’s still mastering how to use a crayon. But I know I’ll have loads of her masterpieces to display before I know it.

I don’t want to clutter our fridge with them (it’s not magnetic anyway) and frames can be pricey and too permanent, considering that kids create tons of artwork over the years and I’ll want a display method that allows for easy rotation of featured art.

So that’s why I’ve been on the lookout for clever – and frugal – ways to display kids’ drawings and paintings. The seven best I’ve come across so far make up today’s hint.

1.) Use a cheap window curtain hanger. My friend Catherine shared this smart DIY evolving gallery trick with me. The basic gist: Take an inexpensive curtain hanger, like this $7 Ikea model, and use it to hang kid artwork along a wall. Here’s one example of how this trick looks in practice from blogger Suburbs Mama, another from blogger Gabriel’s Good Tidings and you can see more examples on Pinterest.

2.) Make a kid art clothesline. In other words, hang a picture wire between two screws and use clothespins to clip art to it, like Parent Hacks and the blogs Random Thoughts of a Supermom and Family Friendly Frugality all suggest.

3.) Tack it up. Hang up a bulletin board and just clip the artwork there (I love this HGTV white gallery bulletin board look and here’s another version of this hanging strategy on the blog Fly Through Our Window).

4.) Go for magnetic paint. If you make your walls magnetic, then you can display artwork right on them with the help of magnets. Here’s some inspiration from Apartment Therapy and more from Someday Crafts.

5.) Hang empty frames with clips inside. Check out this look, from A Storied Style, here.

6.) Or just hang clipboards. If you buy a few clipboards, you can hang them up on the wall and then rotate what art you display in them. Here’s how this approach looks in practice, courtesy of the sites Raining Hot Coupons and Dwelement.

7.) Finally, the most frugal option of all. Just hang the art up with masking tape and cover an entire wall, like the blog Curly Birds suggests.

What are your favorite frugal strategies for displaying your kids’ always evolving art work?