My wife and I have been looking for a good solution for displaying photos in the house, but until recently, had not found a good solution.

A pinup board results in holes in each photo, and moving a photo to another location on the board means you need to remove and re-insert all the pins in that photo.

Magnetic photo rope (using magnets to hold photos onto a steel cable hanging on the wall) is a cool idea, but the photos will blow around when doors are opened/closed, or if the wind blows in through a window.



However, the use of magnets gave me an idea, and last week, I bought a magnetic whiteboard from a local office supplies shop, along with some tiny rare-earth magnets.

using tiny magnets to hold photos on the board

I found a cheap source of suitable magnets from a Hong Kong based internet seller called Deal Extreme, with a 100-pack of Super-Strong Rare-Earth RE Magnets leaving me just USD$7.70 (approx AUD$12) out-of-pocket, with free shipping.

magnets - only 1mm thick and 9mm diameter

The magnets I purchased are just 9mm diameter, and 1mm thick. Note that Deal Extreme offer many other sized magnets too.

Despite the cheap price, the magnets are good quality, with rounded edges, and thus shouldn't scratch the photos.



Magnetic whiteboards are available from any office supplies shop. I purchased the following boards from Officeworks:

• 900x600mm magnetic whiteboard (product code OW5B) for AUD$64.99 (approx USD$41.70)
• 450x600mm magnetic whiteboard (product code (OW5A) for AUD$43.99 (approx USD$28.25)

The large board is now on the wall in our living room, and the smaller board is on the wall in my office.



The magnets securely hold photos onto the whiteboard, and due to their small size, they are not too noticeable. Even when using a magnet on each corner of a photo, the photo can still be moved around the whiteboard relatively easily just by sliding it across the whiteboard surface, allowing photos to be easily re-positioned.

900x600mm whiteboard filled with photos

One disadvantage of using small powerful magnets is that a single magnet is difficult to lift off the whiteboard (depending on your fingernail length!). However, if you leave the leftover magnets stuck together, you can use this cylinder of magnets to easily lift off any individual magnets from the whiteboard.

Note that you can use up 100 magnets very quickly if using a magnet on each corner of a photo!

small magnets in each corner of the photos

Because it's a whiteboard, you can add comments, descriptions and notes around your photos, using a whiteboard marker.

add descriptions and labels to your photos