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Anti-Transgender Bills: What They Would Ban And Where They're Being Considered


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Anti-Transgender Bills: What They Would Ban and Where They're Being Considered


Anti-Transgender Bills: What They Would Ban and Where They're Being Considered

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear vetoed a bill on Wednesday that would ban transgender girls in middle and high school from playing on sports teams that align with their gender identity. The Republican-dominated state legislature is expected to override his veto when it reconvenes next week.  

In his veto message, Beshear, a Democrat, said the Fairness in Women's Sports Act failed to address any issues not already covered by current school athletics guidelines.

"Transgender children deserve public officials' efforts to demonstrate that they are valued members of our communities through compassion, kindness and empathy, even if not understanding," Beshear said.

Kentucky is one of an estimated 32 states considering more than 130 anti-trans bills, according to the Human Rights Campaign, the country's largest LGBTQ advocacy group. 

Here's what you need to know about the bills under consideration around the country, including what the measures entail and which states are considering them.

'Don't say gay' laws

On Mar. 28, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill prohibiting discussion of gender identity or sexual orientation in kindergarten through third grade "or in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students." The so-called "Don't Say Gay" act sparked fierce opposition, including a walkout by Disney employees who were angry that Bob Chapek, the company's chief executive officer, didn't initially take a public stance against the legislation.

At a signing ceremony, DeSantis, a Republican, said the Parental Rights in Education Act "will make sure that parents can send their kids to school to get an education, not an indoctrination."

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About 60 Walt Disney Co. employees walked off the job in Glendale, California, to protest their company's reluctance to publicly fight Florida's "Don't Say Gay" law. Disney has now said it will work to get the law repealed.

Alisha Jucevic/Getty Images

Critics of the measure say its vagueness leaves educators vulnerable, given that it allows parents to sue school districts if they believe the act has been violated. A lawsuit challenging the law alleges it violates students' rights to free speech, equal protection and due process.

At least 15 other states are considering similar "Don't Say Gay" measures. Many are presented as parents' bills of rights or academic transparency measures. 

Bills before Oklahoma legislators include one that would prohibit librarians and teachers from discussing gender identity and another that would allow families to sue teachers for $10,000 if they promote positions "in opposition to the closely held religious beliefs of students."

A bill in the Tennessee House would ban textbooks that "promote, normalize, support, or address" LGBT issues or "lifestyles," while legislators in Indiana have penned a bill requiring parents to give permission for any classroom discussion involving gender identity, sexual orientation, "transgenderism" or any aspect of human sexuality.

Transgender athlete bans

Roughly half of the anti-transgender legislation at the state level would prohibit trans youth from participating in school sports consistent with their gender identity, according to the Human Rights Campaign. 

On Mar. 30, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed the "Save Women's Sports Act," which prohibits transgender girls from playing on female sports teams at the high school or college level.

transgender rights

At least 15 states are considering some form of ban on trans students in school sports.

Photo by Stephen Zenner/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

"When it comes to sports and athletics, girls should compete against girls [and] boys should compete against boys," Stitt said at the signing. "And let's be very clear: That's all this bill says."

Lawmakers in at least 15 states are considering some form of a transgender-athlete ban, according to the legislative tracker from Freedom for All Americans, which advocates for LGBTQ equality.

In addition to Oklahoma, they include Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Utah and Wisconsin. 

Frequently, the language is aimed specifically at transgender girls in sports, not trans boys: Last week, for example, the Kansas Senate passed a bill that requires "female student athletic teams only include members who are biologically female."

That measure now awaits a hearing in the House. Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat, vetoed similar legislation last year but Republicans may have enough votes this time to override a veto.

It's not just Democrats balking at these bills, though: GOP Gov. Eric Holcomb of Indiana vetoed a trans-athlete ban on March 23, saying the legislature hadn't demonstrated there was a problem that required government intervention.

But three days later Utah lawmakers overrode Republican Gov. Spencer Cox's veto of the Student Eligibility in Scholastic Activities Act, which prohibits "a student of the male sex from competing against another school on a team designated for female students." 

Idaho became the first state to pass a transgender athlete ban back in March 2020, followed by Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Mississippi, Montana, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia, according to the Movement Advancement Project. 

Most recently, a ban in Arizona, the Save Women's Sports Act was signed into law by Republican Gov. Doug Ducey on Wednesday.

Prohibition on transition-related care for minors 

In April 2021, Arkansas became the first (and, to date, only) state to ban transition-related care for minors when the GOP-dominated legislature overrode Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson's veto of HB 1570, the Save Adolescents From Experimentation (SAFE) Act.

After the Texas Legislature failed to pass a transition-care ban in 2021, Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive action in February ordering the state's child welfare agency to treat gender-affirming medical care as felony child abuse. Members of the general public are empowered to report parents if it appears that their children are receiving such treatment. 

rally for transgender rights in Alabama

Attendees at a rally at the Alabama State House opposing legislation that would make it a crime for doctors to give puberty blockers to transgender minors.

Julie Bennett/Getty Images

Kate Oakley, Human Rights Campaign's state legislative director and senior counsel, called the action "outrageously lawless."

"It's against science and appalling abuse of executive power," Oakley told CNET. Both Abbott's order and the Arkansas law are being challenged in court.

At least 14 other states are looking to restrict gender-affirming care for minors, some with criminal penalties for medical providers and parents.

Alabama's Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act, which has cleared the state Senate and is now before the House, would make it a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $15,000 fine for a doctor to prescribe puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones to someone under 18.  

"Adults are free to do what they want to do, but this is to protect children. I consider it abuse to give these long-term drugs to these children," the bill's sponsor, Rep. Wesley Allen, told the House Judiciary Committee earlier this month, The Hill reported. 

Similar legislation is being considered in Arizona, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina and Tennessee, according to the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law.

Age-appropriate care for transgender minors is considered medically appropriate by a majority of health care organizations, including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Pediatric Endocrine Society and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Other anti-transgender legislation

While sports bans and prohibition on medical care have been the most common and successful bills, there are also measures aiming at restricting access to restrooms and prohibiting changes to gender markers on birth certificates.

Arizona's HB 2161 would make it illegal for teachers or administrators to withhold information from a parent who is deemed relevant to their child's wellbeing. 

Transgender rights

Bills in 14 states would restrict minors' access to transition-related care, some with criminal penalties for doctors and parents.

Octavio Jones/Getty Images

It specifically cites details about a student's "purported gender identity or requested transition" if that identity "is incongruous with the student's biological sex." School districts can be sued for noncompliance, and teachers can lose their certification. 

The bill's sponsor, Rep. Steve Kaiser, says it's not the school's job to be a safe space for students.

"Their job is to teach my son reading, writing and math," Kaiser said, according to KJZZ. "Their job is not to console my son. That's to let me know so I can coach my son and console my son." 

Human Rights Campaign's Oakley says bills like Kaiser's work to "taking out the support for trans youth one by one." 

"Whether it's parents and doctors, teammates, teachers or guidance counselors," she added. "The goal is to contract and contract the support the kids have until they're all alone."


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Bipartisan Bill Would Compel Google To Break Up Its Ad Business


Bipartisan Bill Would Compel Google to Break Up Its Ad Business


Bipartisan Bill Would Compel Google to Break Up Its Ad Business

What's happening

A group of senators introduced a new bill that would force Google to break up its online ad business if it's passed into law.

Why it matters

The bill is a threat to Google's primary revenue source and could up-end its business model.

What's next

The bill has a long way to go and there's no guarantee it will be passed into law, especially during an election year.

A bipartisan bill designed to break up Google's massive online ad business has been introduced in the US Senate.

The Competition and Transparency in Digital Advertising Act, introduced Thursday, would prevent companies processing more than $20 billion in digital ad transactions annually from engaging in ad sales, according to the text of the legislation. The bill would force Google to divest its digital ads business within a year if passed. 

The bill targets companies like Google that operate in multiple parts of the online ad economy, which senators say is a conflict of interest. Ad sales on its giant Search product is a pillar of the $209 billion in revenue that Google raked in last year. The company also helps third-party advertisers sell and purchase ads online and runs auctions at which ads are sold. 

"When you have Google simultaneously serving as a seller and a buyer and running an exchange, that gives them an unfair, undue advantage in the marketplace, one that doesn't necessarily reflect the value they are providing," Sen. Mike Lee, a Utah Republican who is leading the bill, told The Wall Street Journal. "When a company can wear all these hats simultaneously, it can engage in conduct that harms everyone."

In a statement, Google said that its ad tools, along with those from its competitors, help American businesses grow and protect customers from privacy risks or misleading ads. "Breaking those tools would hurt publishers and advertisers, lower ad quality, and create new privacy risks," a Google spokesperson said. Google says that "low-quality data brokers" will flood the net with "spammy ads" and that this bill is the "wrong bill, at the wrong time, aimed at the wrong target."

In a press release, Lee and other senators called Google's business model a "tax on thousands of American businesses, and thus a tax on millions of American consumers."

The bill is the latest in a string of legislative proposals designed to limit the power of Big Tech. A package of five bills, including the American Innovation and Choice Online Act and Ending Platform Monopolies Act, directly target Google, Amazon, Apple and Facebook parent Meta. 

If some or all of these bills were to pass, it would give Congress substantially more power in dealing with the massive tech industry, which is widely seen as lightly regulated.

The bill is co-sponsored by Texas Republican Ted Cruz and Democrats Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut. Similar legislation is set to be introduced in the House, according to The Journal. 

The new legislation comes at a tricky time for Congress. Mid-term elections that could tip control to the Republicans take place in November. Opportunities to get a floor vote time might be limited.

Google is also facing lawsuits that accuse it of monopoly control of online ad sales. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is leading a coalition of 16 states and Puerto Rico in suing the search giant for allegedly controlling the online ad market. Google has said Paxton's allegations are inaccurate and asked a judge to dismiss the case. 

Paxton has also filed a privacy lawsuit against Google. On Thursday, he amended it to include a claim that Google's Chrome browser tracks sensitive user data even when it's in incognito mode. A proposed class action lawsuit, Brown et al v. Google LLC, alleges that Google's Chrome browser collects data while in that private browsing mode.


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Amid War In Ukraine, Should Ordinary Russians Be Banned From Trading Crypto?


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Amid War in Ukraine, Should Ordinary Russians Be Banned From Trading Crypto?


Amid War in Ukraine, Should Ordinary Russians Be Banned From Trading Crypto?

This story is part of War in Ukraine, CNET's coverage of events there and of the wider effects on the world.

As Russia's war on Ukraine intensifies, the US and its allies have continued to increase their economic pressure on the Russian government, to isolate the country further from the global financial system and debilitate its military capacity. Western allies have frozen Russian assets abroad, removed Russian banks from international banking networks and even banned all gas and oil imports, among other unprecedented penalties. But there's still growing concern that Russian President Vladimir Putin and his supporters might turn to cryptocurrencies to avoid economic sanctions.

With their ability to operate as alternatives to the traditional financial system, cryptocurrency exchanges -- digital marketplaces where you can buy and trade digital currencies -- have become an effective option both for Ukraine supporters to raise funds for relief efforts and for ordinary Russians to seek financial shelter from the economic sanctions imposed on their country.

That's why both the Ukrainian government and advocates for even further economic penalties against Russia have become increasingly vocal about the role crypto exchanges can play in the conflict. Hundreds of Western businesses, such as oil companies Shell and BP and tech players Netflix and Microsoft, have scaled back or halted their dealings in Russia since the beginning of the war. And some people argue that similarly stopping crypto operations in the country could significantly weaken Putin's hold on Russia's economy and its citizens.

"I'm asking all major crypto exchanges to block addresses of Russian users," Ukraine's vice prime minister and minister of digital transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov, tweeted Feb. 28. "It's crucial to freeze not only the addresses linked to Russian and Belarusian politicians but also to sabotage ordinary users." 

Fedorov also sent letters to eight cryptocurrency exchanges, including two of the largest by volume, Coinbase and Binance, asking them to stop offering service to Russian users out of concern digital currencies are being used to evade sanctions.

The response was swift. 

"We are not preemptively banning all Russians from using Coinbase," CEO Brian Armstrong tweeted March 3. "We believe everyone deserves access to basic financial services unless the law says otherwise." And hours after getting Fedorov's letter, a Binance spokesperson told CNBC, "We are not going to unilaterally freeze millions of innocent users' accounts. Crypto is meant to provide greater financial freedom for people across the globe. To unilaterally decide to ban people's access to their crypto would fly in the face of the reason why crypto exists."

But the CEOs of several exchanges, including some that got Fedorov's letter, said that though they'll continue to offer access to ordinary Russians, they're complying with US law in regard to sanctions. On March 7, Coinbase reportedly said that to facilitate sanctions enforcement, it had blocked more than 25,000 wallet addresses related to Russian individuals or entities thought to have engaged in illicit activity and had reported them to the US government.

Ukraine's request for an all-out ban on Russian users, and the unequivocal rejection from most regulated crypto exchanges, has sparked a debate about the responsibilities digital currency platforms have in an international conflict. As a growing number of Western companies decide to stop conducting business in Russia, should crypto exchanges follow suit and go beyond what they're required to do by law? And even if they did, would banning all Russian users from crypto exchanges make a difference in slowing down Russia's invasion of Ukraine?

Some crypto specialists interviewed by CNET, including executives from crypto companies and public officials working to prevent Russia from using digital assets to sidestep economic sanctions, said a full Russian ban from crypto platforms could do more harm than good in regard to ordinary Russians. And some said the volume of the whole crypto market is still too small to really help Putin's government counter the impact of Western economic penalties, even if it tried.

But other experts on the role the private sector can play in global conflicts said bringing the Russian economy to a standstill is the one nonmilitary way to thwart Putin's advance on Ukraine, and that crypto exchanges can contribute to that only if they stop operating in Russia altogether. 

Cryptocurrencies are digital assets that are recorded on a blockchain, a distributed digital ledger that can't be altered. They usually aren't backed by an underlying asset, such as fiat currency. That's why they could be an ideal safe haven amid a wave of economic sanctions. 

Why crypto exchanges won't budge on Russia

In refusing to kick ordinary Russians off their platforms, cryptocurrency exchanges argue that the move would further hurt Russian citizens who are suffering from the economic impact of the war and who might consider buying cryptocurrencies as a way to protect their financial standing.

"We all saw those photos of runs on ATMs from Russian citizens -- lines around the block in Moscow," said Todd Conklin, counselor to the deputy secretary of the US Treasury Department. "One would suspect ordinary citizens may have been looking for an alternative to the ruble." Conklin made the remarks during a March 4 webinar hosted by blockchain analytics company TRM Labs about the possibility Russia could use cryptocurrencies to avoid economic sanctions. 

The ruble, Russia's national currency, has lost nearly 50% of its value against the US dollar since the start of the year, according to Reuters. Other parts of Russia's financial system have also been impacted by the West's pressure on the country to stop its aggression on Ukraine. Digital payment services such as Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay aren't available in Russia any longer. Visa, Mastercard and PayPal also halted operations in the country. Ordinary Russian citizens, worried that economic sanctions will devastate the Russian economy even further, have flocked to ATMs and banks, seeking to withdraw as much cash as possible before it might be too late. 

"Some ordinary Russians are using crypto as a lifeline now that their currency has collapsed," Armstrong, the Coinbase CEO, tweeted. "Many of them likely oppose what their country is doing, and a ban would hurt them, too."

As long as US crypto businesses are complying with US laws in ensuring that sanctioned individuals or entities aren't using their platforms, "crypto could be a vital lifeline for ordinary Russians to preserve their savings [and] receive familial remittances," Michael Parker said in an email. Parker is a former federal prosecutor who's now head of anti-money laundering and sanctions practice at Ferrari & Associates, a Washington, DC-based law firm.

Jesse Powell, co-founder and CEO of Kraken Exchange, another crypto platform, tweeted that though he understood the rationale behind Ukraine's request to remove all Russians from crypto exchanges, Kraken "cannot freeze the accounts of our Russian clients without a legal requirement to do so." 

"I would guess that the vast majority of crypto holders on @krakenfx are anti-war," Powell tweeted. "#Bitcoin is the embodiment of libertarian values, which strongly favor individualism and human rights."

Given the anti-authority libertarian streak that fuels so much of the cryptocurrency sector, the refusal from crypto exchange executives to stop operations in Russia isn't surprising, said Yale University professor Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, who's the president of the Chief Executive Leadership Institute, a nonprofit focused on CEO leadership and corporate governance.

Crypto executives don't like "being told what to do," Sonnenfeld said. "And yet, there's a striking naivete [in] that they are working in support of [Putin], the greatest autocrat alive today, the most restricted world leader, [who] they are tacitly supporting by enabling a bypass, if it's even for the cognoscenti, for elites and for oligarchs, if it was as limited as some claim."

Sonnenfeld said that the reason more than 300 Western companies have pulled out of Russia so far isn't that the government told them to do so. "It's the maverick streak of these CEOs who pulled out and started this thundering herd," he said, "courageous CEOs who had the moral character to pull out."

What a full ban on Russia would and wouldn't do

Some specialists said that blocking all Russians from crypto would not only potentially inflict damage on millions of innocent citizens, but it would also do little to amplify the West's sanctions on Russia's economy. The reason? Russia doesn't have the digital infrastructure to tap into crypto assets at a level required to outmaneuver the economic penalties already imposed by the US and its allies.

"You can't flip a switch overnight and run a G20 economy on cryptocurrency," Conklin said during the webinar hosted by blockchain intelligence company TRM. He explained that in recent years, Russia has worked to bolster the ruble and build up its reserves, instead of laying the rails needed to support crypto. That's why US economic sanctions have been focused on preventing Russia from accessing the reserves it keeps overseas. "Big banks in an economy need real liquidity," Conklin said. "Conducting large-scale transactions in virtual currency is likely to be slow and expensive."

Anthony Citrano, founder of Los Angeles-based NFT platform Acquicent, pointed to crypto prices as a clue to what's going on. "If the Russian government really were using crypto as a major piece of their international finance strategy, you'd expect to see absolutely explosive growth in prices of major crypto [currencies]," he said, "which we have not seen. Time will tell, but for now there is zero evidence this is happening."

Former federal prosecutor Ari Redbord, who's now head of legal and government affairs at TRM, said the economic sanctions levied so far have been so "serious and so draconian in their measures" that Russia would need much more than crypto assets to counterbalance them. "We're talking about [the] potential loss of, or no access to, hundreds of billions of dollars in frozen [Russian] Central Bank assets. We're talking about $1.5 trillion in potential trade losses," he said. "The entire crypto market cap doesn't approach what ultimately Russia would need to prop up a G20 [economy] government and fight what is going to become a more and more costly war."

But that doesn't mean the Russian government or Putin's supporters won't try to use crypto to circumvent economic sanctions. "Russian actors are very adept at money laundering and have been for a long time," Redbord said. In the case of crypto, they'll be looking for "noncompliant exchanges in order to move those funds." 

Such exchanges include platforms like Suex, which was blacklisted by the Biden administration in September for allegedly helping launder ransomware payments. TRM has identified about 340 exchanges that are either in Russia or Russia-related and don't have compliance controls in place, "and that is where illicit actors will look to move on as on-ramps and off-ramps for crypto," Redbord said.

Those digital platforms are already operating outside the law, though. For any US business, including businesses in the crypto industry, "there is still a full compliance obligation to not deal with sanctioned parties or interests in blocked property," said Parker, from Ferrari & Associates. "US crypto businesses must, and largely do, institute robust compliance programs, including advanced analytics software, to ensure legal compliance with US sanctions."

Bringing Russia to a standstill

Yale's Sonnenfeld argues that it's beside the point whether Putin and his supporters can actually get their hands on enough digital assets to offset the impact of Western sanctions. He said that by halting all operations in Russia, crypto exchanges could contribute to putting even more pressure on Putin's government, until it reaches a tipping point.

"Government-ordered sanctions have limits," Sonnenfeld said, even if they're a coordinated effort between multiple international actors, including the US, the EU, the UK, Australia, Japan and the UN. "They work best when voluntary efforts of the private sector rally."

That's what happened in South Africa in the late 1980s, Sonnenfeld said, when international pressure contributed to putting an end to apartheid, a system of institutionalized racial segregation that had ruled the country for more than 40 years. Economic sanctions imposed by the US government had an effect only when dozens of major private companies joined in. "It brought civil society to a stop/standstill," he said.

Sonnenfeld and his research team at Yale compiled a list of companies that continued operating in Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. After the publication of a Washington Post story that mentioned that McDonald's and Starbucks were on the list, both chains announced plans to stop operating in Russia. Since the list was created and made public, it now shows "over 330 companies [that] have announced their withdrawal from Russia in protest" of the Ukraine war.

For Sonnenfeld, paralyzing Russia's economy is the only nonmilitary option the West has against Putin's advances on Ukraine.

"The humanitarian thing to do is to not go with bombs and bullets, and to strangle civil society" and dissolve Putin's image of being a totalitarian with full control over all sectors, he said. "If you can show him to be truly impotent over the economy, that he doesn't have control over civil society, then he and the oligarchs fall flat on their face, and that's what cryptocurrency mavericks can do" should they decide to halt operations in Russia. "They can be really helpful here." 

Allowing ordinary Russians to have access to digital assets through crypto exchanges is "not doing anything humanitarian," Sonnenfeld said. "People should be thrown out of work, they should be out on the street" due to an economic collapse brought on by government-ordered sanctions and to private companies denying Russian citizens access to services, goods and money. "Is that cruel?" Sonnenfeld said. "No, it is better than shooting them, than bombing them -- and that's the stage we're at right now."


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DIY Pipe Shelves: Stylish, Affordable And Ultra-Easy To Build


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DIY Pipe Shelves: Stylish, Affordable and Ultra-Easy to Build


DIY Pipe Shelves: Stylish, Affordable and Ultra-Easy to Build

This story is part of Home Tips, CNET's collection of practical advice for getting the most out of your home, inside and out.

Large custom-made shelving can be extremely expensive, especially if you hire a carpenter to make bespoke units that fit your space. But by using pipes you can create a storage system that fits perfectly into any space and doesn't require expert fitting or years of DIY skills to put together. By using commonly available screw-fit pipes and precut timber boards, you can easily make shelves any size you want or fit them into awkward positions, often at a lower cost than commissioning custom-built units. 

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You can create floor-standing shelves or wall-mounted shelves, shelves that reach up to your ceiling, or shelves that stretch the whole of your wall, turning that lovely spare room into a beautiful library. 

The great thing is, it's not even that difficult to do. The pipework screws together and the wooden boards sit on top, so there's very little to go wrong. I'm a total novice with DIY -- I've managed to change a lightbulb, but I've never tackled anything like this -- and when I bought my first home, I knew that a big shelving system was exactly what I needed. 

Here, then, is my guide on how to build your own custom DIY pipe shelves. (For more, check out how to make custom poster hangers for just $1 and organization ideas for smaller spaces.) 

Read more: Best Office Chairs for 2022

Why do you need custom shelves? 

I'm a professional photographer and product reviewer for CNET. That means I have a lot of equipment. Like, a lot of equipment. I work from home and needed my office space to function as a photography studio, so I needed a storage solution that was also an easy-access workspace. 

A custom-designed shelving system let me create something that fully suited my needs. But it's not just photographers who'd need it; these shelves would make for a wonderful library wall, or for displaying lots of collectibles. The industrial look can work great in your bedroom, an office or running along the wall of your living room, proudly displaying photos of your family, lovely plants and your collection of Friends VHS tapes from the '90s that you can't bear to get rid of. 

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This is what counted as a shelving "plan" for me.

Andrew Hoyle/CNET

How to design your shelves

Take a look at your space and really consider what it is you need from your shelves. For me, I needed lots of room for storage, but I also needed a clutter-free workspace. So I wanted to keep the floor clear by maximizing the vertical storage space, building my shelves high and taking advantage of my 13-foot ceilings. 

I wanted to incorporate my desk, so I sketched a design that would go around it, with room for my computer tower to fit snugly beneath. With five tiers, each stretching over 8 feet in length, I'd have enough room for all my photography equipment and plenty of space for whatever products I'm testing, leaving the rest of the room free to work in.

Consider how your shelves can fit in your space -- perhaps there's a sloping roof and you can build your shelves to fit beneath the slope. Or maybe fit your shelves in the alcoves either side of a chimney breast. My advice is to sketch out some ideas, no matter how roughly, and see what you think will work best in the space you have. The modular nature of pipe shelves means it's not difficult to fit them in even the most awkward spaces. 

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The empty wall offered a lot of space to fill with the custom shelving. I have a lot of stuff to store.

Andrew Hoyle/CNET

Think as well about how many tiers of shelves you'll need. If it's fitting in a small space, can you really squeeze four tiers in, or will three layers give you more room between each shelf to store taller objects? If it's for a bookshelf, find your tallest book and make sure you're leaving enough space for it to slide in. 

Read more: Best Standing Desks of 2022

Measuring and buying shelf components

Once you've settled on your design, it's time to measure up. Your specific measurements will depend entirely on the space and the number of shelves you want. For me, I wanted five levels, going up to about 10 feet in height. That meant I needed gaps of roughly two feet between each shelf. 

I say "roughly" as my design allowed for some errors, at least on the vertical measurements. I knew there'd be at least two feet of space above the top shelf, so an inch or two difference when measuring upward didn't matter. That's good, as when I measured the pipes between the shelves, I neglected to include the T-shaped connectors. There were five of these on each vertical support, which added about six inches to the total height. 

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Some of the pipework and fittings.

Andrew Hoyle/CNET

If I were building the shelves to fit perfectly between the floor and the ceiling, then my shelves wouldn't have fit. As it was, they simply reached slightly higher than planned, which wasn't a problem. As long as each of your vertical supports are the same height, that's what matters. If you're measuring for a specific space then make sure you find out exactly how much length your connectors will add so you know the exact height of your shelves when assembled. 

Your retailer should be able to help with this. Most big hardware stores will likely sell pipework and fittings that will be suitable, but an increasing number of specialist plumbing companies sell pipes specifically for building furniture. These have often been given an aged look -- or other more visually appealing aesthetic -- that will look great. 

My shelves would stand on the floor but I also mounted them against the wall. For each upright support, I required five longer pipes (the pipes standing vertically between each level), five shorter pipes (connecting between the wall and the vertical pipes, the length being two inches longer than the wooden boards I'd ordered). I then needed five T-shaped connectors and six wall plates (five to attach to the wall, one to act as a 'foot' for the pipes to stand on the floor). 

img-0934

The shelves attach to the wall using these iron 'feet'. Because there are 20 of these, the weight is spread across the whole wall, rather than putting too much weight on a single mounting point.

Andrew Hoyle/CNET

I had four uprights, so ordered four lots of all of the above. Each pipe had been screw threaded to allow it to simply screw into the fittings. I used 3/4-inch steel pipe, which provides more than enough strength to support the shelves. My retailer also provided reclaimed oak timber in various forms so I also ordered that, cut to size, treated and scorched to give a beautiful aesthetic. Oak can be quite expensive however, and you can get similar results with pine or even plywood. Check with your local lumber yard and see what they can offer. 

Building DIY pipe shelves

Once your components have arrived it's time to get building. Start by making a cup of tea and putting on a good playlist. Then make sure your work area is clear and you've got the space you need to build and install. 

I started by connecting the pipework to build each upright support. It took some doing and I ended up having to put a lot more effort into screwing everything together than I imagined. Once done, I stood the vertical pipe on the floor and leaned it against the wall in the position it would be, using a spirit level to check it was in line both vertically and horizontally. I marked the position of the screw holes using a pen and then laid the pipe back down. Repeat for all four upright supports. 

img-0930

As I installed each vertical strut, I used a spirit level to check it was exactly vertical and used a temporary 'shelf' (in this case, a roll of paper) to allow me to check that the real shelves would also be perfectly level. 

Andrew Hoyle/CNET

I used a stud and wire detector at each of the marks I'd make to check if it was safe to drill and then used a 7mm masonry drill bit and a hammer drill to drill around an inch deep. I then hammered in wall plugs to help further secure the screws. Some didn't go quite deep enough so I used wire cutters to trim them down. 

When I finished drilling the holes, I held the pipes back up and shimmied them into the perfect position before screwing them into place using screws I'd already checked had wide enough heads to properly secure the mounting plates (the first lot I bought simply passed straight through the holes so would not be suitable). 

I was nervous about whether my old walls would support the weight (my house was built in the 1860s) but it was the floor that would take most of the weight, with the rest being spread across 20 mounting plates on the wall. The more mounting points I used across the shelves, the more that weight would be spread out and easier for the wall to hold. A year on, they've not collapsed. 

img-0939

I used a multi-function stud, wire and pipe detector to make sure that wherever I drilled was safe and wouldn't cause any harm to either myself or my house. If you're in any doubt about safety, consult an expert.

Andrew Hoyle/CNET

Once the upright metalwork was in place I laid a roll of paper across and used a spirit level to check that it was completely level. The bubble sat in the middle, so I was all good. Then it was simply a case of sliding the timber boards onto the horizontal supports. The oak boards were almost 2 inches thick, so they're extremely heavy, but there's no flex in them so I wasn't concerned about them bending when I put things on them. 

I secured them in place using simple metal brackets that wrapped around the pipes they sat on and screwed underneath the wood. Finally, I loaded up the shelves with my photography gear and took a step back to admire my work. 

img-0940

These gorgeous oak boards are actually reclaimed from old planks used by a scaffolding firm. They'd been stripped and aesthetically charred, and although cheaper wood is available, the overall look was exactly what I wanted. 

Andrew Hoyle/CNET

Would I build these shelves again? 

I was pleased with how straightforward the building process was once I had my plans in place. Having never done anything like this before, I was nervous about getting the measurements wrong or, even worse, managing to collapse the whole wall in the period property I'd just bought. Mercifully, everything seemed to work out pretty well and the shelves have been extremely useful so far. 

That said, with a total bill of materials somewhere around the $1,000 mark, it wasn't a cheap process and with zero experience with projects like this, things could easily have gone wrong and that money would have been wasted. While getting a similar custom-designed shelving system installed by professional carpenters would have likely been a lot more expensive (potentially several times over), those risks would be much lower. 

I'd absolutely do a similar build again though, even if it's just creating a single shelf or two in my bathroom or some small bookshelves for the bedroom. It's a straightforward process and the pride at having created from scratch a genuinely useful addition into the home is well worth the effort.

For more organization tips, check out the best way to organize a fridge and how to declutter your closet


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DIY Pipe Shelves: Stylish, Affordable And Ultra-Easy To Build


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DIY Pipe Shelves: Stylish, Affordable and Ultra-Easy to Build


DIY Pipe Shelves: Stylish, Affordable and Ultra-Easy to Build

This story is part of Home Tips, CNET's collection of practical advice for getting the most out of your home, inside and out.

Large custom-made shelving can be extremely expensive, especially if you hire a carpenter to make bespoke units that fit your space. But by using pipes you can create a storage system that fits perfectly into any space and doesn't require expert fitting or years of DIY skills to put together. By using commonly available screw-fit pipes and precut timber boards, you can easily make shelves any size you want or fit them into awkward positions, often at a lower cost than commissioning custom-built units. 

CNET Home Tips logo

You can create floor-standing shelves or wall-mounted shelves, shelves that reach up to your ceiling, or shelves that stretch the whole of your wall, turning that lovely spare room into a beautiful library. 

The great thing is, it's not even that difficult to do. The pipework screws together and the wooden boards sit on top, so there's very little to go wrong. I'm a total novice with DIY -- I've managed to change a lightbulb, but I've never tackled anything like this -- and when I bought my first home, I knew that a big shelving system was exactly what I needed. 

Here, then, is my guide on how to build your own custom DIY pipe shelves. (For more, check out how to make custom poster hangers for just $1 and organization ideas for smaller spaces.) 

Read more: Best Office Chairs for 2022

Why do you need custom shelves? 

I'm a professional photographer and product reviewer for CNET. That means I have a lot of equipment. Like, a lot of equipment. I work from home and needed my office space to function as a photography studio, so I needed a storage solution that was also an easy-access workspace. 

A custom-designed shelving system let me create something that fully suited my needs. But it's not just photographers who'd need it; these shelves would make for a wonderful library wall, or for displaying lots of collectibles. The industrial look can work great in your bedroom, an office or running along the wall of your living room, proudly displaying photos of your family, lovely plants and your collection of Friends VHS tapes from the '90s that you can't bear to get rid of. 

img-4165

This is what counted as a shelving "plan" for me.

Andrew Hoyle/CNET

How to design your shelves

Take a look at your space and really consider what it is you need from your shelves. For me, I needed lots of room for storage, but I also needed a clutter-free workspace. So I wanted to keep the floor clear by maximizing the vertical storage space, building my shelves high and taking advantage of my 13-foot ceilings. 

I wanted to incorporate my desk, so I sketched a design that would go around it, with room for my computer tower to fit snugly beneath. With five tiers, each stretching over 8 feet in length, I'd have enough room for all my photography equipment and plenty of space for whatever products I'm testing, leaving the rest of the room free to work in.

Consider how your shelves can fit in your space -- perhaps there's a sloping roof and you can build your shelves to fit beneath the slope. Or maybe fit your shelves in the alcoves either side of a chimney breast. My advice is to sketch out some ideas, no matter how roughly, and see what you think will work best in the space you have. The modular nature of pipe shelves means it's not difficult to fit them in even the most awkward spaces. 

img-0863

The empty wall offered a lot of space to fill with the custom shelving. I have a lot of stuff to store.

Andrew Hoyle/CNET

Think as well about how many tiers of shelves you'll need. If it's fitting in a small space, can you really squeeze four tiers in, or will three layers give you more room between each shelf to store taller objects? If it's for a bookshelf, find your tallest book and make sure you're leaving enough space for it to slide in. 

Read more: Best Standing Desks of 2022

Measuring and buying shelf components

Once you've settled on your design, it's time to measure up. Your specific measurements will depend entirely on the space and the number of shelves you want. For me, I wanted five levels, going up to about 10 feet in height. That meant I needed gaps of roughly two feet between each shelf. 

I say "roughly" as my design allowed for some errors, at least on the vertical measurements. I knew there'd be at least two feet of space above the top shelf, so an inch or two difference when measuring upward didn't matter. That's good, as when I measured the pipes between the shelves, I neglected to include the T-shaped connectors. There were five of these on each vertical support, which added about six inches to the total height. 

img-0864

Some of the pipework and fittings.

Andrew Hoyle/CNET

If I were building the shelves to fit perfectly between the floor and the ceiling, then my shelves wouldn't have fit. As it was, they simply reached slightly higher than planned, which wasn't a problem. As long as each of your vertical supports are the same height, that's what matters. If you're measuring for a specific space then make sure you find out exactly how much length your connectors will add so you know the exact height of your shelves when assembled. 

Your retailer should be able to help with this. Most big hardware stores will likely sell pipework and fittings that will be suitable, but an increasing number of specialist plumbing companies sell pipes specifically for building furniture. These have often been given an aged look -- or other more visually appealing aesthetic -- that will look great. 

My shelves would stand on the floor but I also mounted them against the wall. For each upright support, I required five longer pipes (the pipes standing vertically between each level), five shorter pipes (connecting between the wall and the vertical pipes, the length being two inches longer than the wooden boards I'd ordered). I then needed five T-shaped connectors and six wall plates (five to attach to the wall, one to act as a 'foot' for the pipes to stand on the floor). 

img-0934

The shelves attach to the wall using these iron 'feet'. Because there are 20 of these, the weight is spread across the whole wall, rather than putting too much weight on a single mounting point.

Andrew Hoyle/CNET

I had four uprights, so ordered four lots of all of the above. Each pipe had been screw threaded to allow it to simply screw into the fittings. I used 3/4-inch steel pipe, which provides more than enough strength to support the shelves. My retailer also provided reclaimed oak timber in various forms so I also ordered that, cut to size, treated and scorched to give a beautiful aesthetic. Oak can be quite expensive however, and you can get similar results with pine or even plywood. Check with your local lumber yard and see what they can offer. 

Building DIY pipe shelves

Once your components have arrived it's time to get building. Start by making a cup of tea and putting on a good playlist. Then make sure your work area is clear and you've got the space you need to build and install. 

I started by connecting the pipework to build each upright support. It took some doing and I ended up having to put a lot more effort into screwing everything together than I imagined. Once done, I stood the vertical pipe on the floor and leaned it against the wall in the position it would be, using a spirit level to check it was in line both vertically and horizontally. I marked the position of the screw holes using a pen and then laid the pipe back down. Repeat for all four upright supports. 

img-0930

As I installed each vertical strut, I used a spirit level to check it was exactly vertical and used a temporary 'shelf' (in this case, a roll of paper) to allow me to check that the real shelves would also be perfectly level. 

Andrew Hoyle/CNET

I used a stud and wire detector at each of the marks I'd make to check if it was safe to drill and then used a 7mm masonry drill bit and a hammer drill to drill around an inch deep. I then hammered in wall plugs to help further secure the screws. Some didn't go quite deep enough so I used wire cutters to trim them down. 

When I finished drilling the holes, I held the pipes back up and shimmied them into the perfect position before screwing them into place using screws I'd already checked had wide enough heads to properly secure the mounting plates (the first lot I bought simply passed straight through the holes so would not be suitable). 

I was nervous about whether my old walls would support the weight (my house was built in the 1860s) but it was the floor that would take most of the weight, with the rest being spread across 20 mounting plates on the wall. The more mounting points I used across the shelves, the more that weight would be spread out and easier for the wall to hold. A year on, they've not collapsed. 

img-0939

I used a multi-function stud, wire and pipe detector to make sure that wherever I drilled was safe and wouldn't cause any harm to either myself or my house. If you're in any doubt about safety, consult an expert.

Andrew Hoyle/CNET

Once the upright metalwork was in place I laid a roll of paper across and used a spirit level to check that it was completely level. The bubble sat in the middle, so I was all good. Then it was simply a case of sliding the timber boards onto the horizontal supports. The oak boards were almost 2 inches thick, so they're extremely heavy, but there's no flex in them so I wasn't concerned about them bending when I put things on them. 

I secured them in place using simple metal brackets that wrapped around the pipes they sat on and screwed underneath the wood. Finally, I loaded up the shelves with my photography gear and took a step back to admire my work. 

img-0940

These gorgeous oak boards are actually reclaimed from old planks used by a scaffolding firm. They'd been stripped and aesthetically charred, and although cheaper wood is available, the overall look was exactly what I wanted. 

Andrew Hoyle/CNET

Would I build these shelves again? 

I was pleased with how straightforward the building process was once I had my plans in place. Having never done anything like this before, I was nervous about getting the measurements wrong or, even worse, managing to collapse the whole wall in the period property I'd just bought. Mercifully, everything seemed to work out pretty well and the shelves have been extremely useful so far. 

That said, with a total bill of materials somewhere around the $1,000 mark, it wasn't a cheap process and with zero experience with projects like this, things could easily have gone wrong and that money would have been wasted. While getting a similar custom-designed shelving system installed by professional carpenters would have likely been a lot more expensive (potentially several times over), those risks would be much lower. 

I'd absolutely do a similar build again though, even if it's just creating a single shelf or two in my bathroom or some small bookshelves for the bedroom. It's a straightforward process and the pride at having created from scratch a genuinely useful addition into the home is well worth the effort.

For more organization tips, check out the best way to organize a fridge and how to declutter your closet


Source

Dish Expands 5G, But There's A Catch: Here's What You Need To Know


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Dish Expands 5G, But There's a Catch: Here's What You Need to Know


Dish Expands 5G, But There's a Catch: Here's What You Need to Know

What's happening

Dish, the fourth US carrier, says it expanded 5G in 120 cities.

Why it matters

Dish took on its fourth carrier role when Sprint and T-Mobile merged, and has been under the gun by the FCC to roll out the service. It's supposed to a viable competitor to its bigger rivals.

What's next

Dish will still need to provide more clarity on the service, which is still invite only for now.

Dish Network may finally be on its way to offering a competitive 5G alternative to the big three national carriers. On Tuesday, the satellite TV provider updated its Project Genesis site to say 5G service is live in more than 120 cities, marking a claim of nationwide coverage amid a Federal Communications Commission deadline to roll out service to at least a fifth of the country's population. 

The announcement, a surprise change from earlier in the morning, when Las Vegas was the sole live city, could signal that the company is finally getting serious about the wireless business. Dish acquired wireless spectrum for years, but very little of a wireless network materialized. Then in 2020, Dish entered the mobile market by acquiring some of Sprint's mobile licenses, which Sprint was shedding as part of its merger with T-Mobile. The complex transaction suddenly made Dish the country's fourth-biggest carrier and led to the creation of Dish Wireless service.

But the FCC had a stipulation. To ensure competition, the regulatory agency required Dish to make sure 20% of Americans would be covered by its 5G network by June 14. The company said in a Wednesday release that the expansion exceeds that threshold. The "beta list" for the service is only available on an invite-basis only, and the company has been tightlipped about how many people will actually be able to access it.  

Dish wasn't available for comment, but Stephen Stokols, CEO of Dish-owned Boost Mobile, tweeted that 5G service is now live in 120 cities and linked to the Project Genesis site. When reached for comment, the FCC clarified that Dish is required to file status reports to the agency, with the first due on July 14. 

"Consumers benefit when there is more competition in our wireless industry," an FCC spokesperson said over email. "We are closely monitoring DISH's 5G build out to ensure that they are meeting all of their requirements in the law."

A host of issues has conspired to trip up Dish. The company acknowledged during an earnings call earlier this year that it had underestimated how much work it would take to get its own 5G network up and running. Supply chain issues only made the situation worse.

It's unclear whether Dish will suffer any consequences if it ends up missing the deadline. Neither Dish nor the FCC responded to a request for comment.

Here's what you need to know about Dish's 5G plans:

Why did the FCC put this requirement on Dish? 

The deadline is the result of a huge shift in the US mobile industry two years ago, when T-Mobile and Sprint combined in a $26.5 billion deal. The FCC nearly quashed the deal out of concern that it would lead to market concentration by taking one carrier out of the market. Only AT&T, Verizon and the new T-Mobile would remain. 

But Dish, which tried to add mobile service to its satellite TV offerings a decade ago, saw the carrier consolidation as an opportunity to become a mobile player. The company paid $5 billion for Boost Mobile, Sprint's prepaid mobile brand, as well as Sprint's 800MHz wireless spectrum specifically for 5G. Dish also secured rights to use part of T-Mobile's 5G network.

Dish still needed to build out its own 5G network, a task that it started mostly from scratch. To ensure Dish mobile customers would have solid service, the FCC originally set March 7, 2020, as the deadline for the company to have its 5G network up and running. The FCC also stipulated that coverage should reach 20% of the US population. 

The deadline, however, was pushed back at Dish's request several times. The latest deadline was set for June 14, 2022. Dish Chairman and co-founder Charlie Ergen decided against requesting another extension and expected that the carrier would meet the FCC deadline, the Fierce Wireless news site reported in May.

Did Dish make the deadline?

Dish updated its Project Genesis website the day of the deadline to say its 5G network has reached over 120 cities. But we don't know how many people in those cities are covered by the network, and ergo whether Dish has met its goal of covering 20% of the US population by June 14. According to the FCC's terms, failing to meet the deadline could result in Dish's license for wireless spectrums being revoked and paying fines of up to $2.2 billion, the Light Reading news site reported earlier this year. 

How far along is Dish's 5G network?

In early May, Dish made its 5G service publicly available in Las Vegas. Customers sign up for the service through "Project Genesis," an early access program that costs $30 per month and currently is only available on Motorola Edge Plus handsets. (The service plans accommodate other phones in the future.)

In February, Dish had said its 5G service would be live in more than two dozen cities by the June deadline. And after the Las Vegas service launched to the public, the carrier published a list of 113 cities it planned to include in Project Genesis. As recently as its first quarter earnings call in May, Dish had said it remained confident that it would activate 5G service in enough cities to reach 20% of the US population by the June deadline. 

The carrier didn't make public where 5G service was live beyond its first city until today, when it suddenly listed over 120 more cities that now have active service on the Project Genesis site. The service remains invite-only, and we don't know how much area in each city is covered.

In addition to securing Sprint's 800MHz range, Dish has also bid in several separate auctions to secure 5G spectrum licenses. These include spending $7.3 billion in January on midband 5G in the 3.45GHz spectrum and $913 million on the so-called C-band 5G in 2020. Combined, the chunks of connected 5G spectrum will serve as the backbone of its service. 

While Dish can use some of T-Mobile's 5G spectrum for years to come as part of agreements between the carriers, Dish also paid AT&T at least $5 billion in July 2021 for a 10-year contract to lean on the latter's 5G network while it builds out its own infrastructure.

What took Dish so long?

Unlike other carriers, which built their 5G networks on existing 4G LTE, Dish has more or less been building its network from scratch. It's also building the service on OpenRAN, a flexible type of cellular network that uses infrastructure from multiple vendors. 

Dish executives have acknowledged that they'd underestimated the work it would take to build their network and that they hadn't anticipated supply chain issues. 

How can you sign up for Dish 5G?

Right now, you can only sign up for Dish 5G's Project Genesis service by getting on a "beta list" of subscribers. First, check if you're located in any of the over 120 cities with 5G service. Then register by entering your email and address on the Project Genesis member site. Since the program is invite-only, there's no guarantee that applicants will be given the chance to subscribe.

Those in the Project Genesis Beta can use the Samsung Galaxy S22 and/or the NetGear 5G hotspot to access Dish's 5G network, while those in Las Vegas can use the Motorola Edge Plus smartphone. More devices will be made available later in the year.

Update, 1 pm PT and 3:45 pm PT: To include more details of the Project Genesis site and the 120 new cities. 


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$1 Custom Poster Hangers: Here's How I Made My Own


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$1 Custom Poster Hangers: Here's How I Made My Own


$1 Custom Poster Hangers: Here's How I Made My Own

This story is part of Home Tips, CNET's collection of practical advice for getting the most out of your home, inside and out.

Hanging large posters or big art prints can be tricky, and buying a huge frame or wide hanging rods big enough to support the paper can get expensive quickly. Sure, you could just tape your prints to the wall, but that would give them a look more like something you'd find in a student dorm than your lovely home. But I found I was able to make my own poster hanging rods out of reclaimed wood that were easy to make, looked beautiful and only cost me $1. 

CNET Home Tips logo

The rods attach to your poster across the top and bottom: The top strip provides a way to hang it off your wall, while the bottom acts as a weight to keep the poster taut against the wall. I recently ordered a print measuring 47x71 inches, but I'd need to get custom-made rods that would cost around $80 if I wanted to hang it, so I was very happy to find a home-made solution that saved me a lot of cash and made use of otherwise scrap materials. 

Here's how I did it. For more home decor tips, check out the best place to mount your TV, and the best Urban Outfitters home decor deals available now.

Read more:  Best Smart Home Products for 2022 That Aren't Made by Amazon or Google

img-4106

The wood batons I got were cheap, but were dirty and scuffed.

Andrew Hoyle/CNET

Step 1: I measured my print's top edge. If you're hanging it in portrait orientation, it'll be the shorter measurement. If you're hanging in landscape, you'll want the longer measurement. I wanted the rods to extend slightly beyond the print, so I added about 2 inches to each side.

Step 2: I visited a local reclaimed wood supplier. If you can upcycle and reuse otherwise wasted wood, that's always preferable to using virgin timber, but you may not have a recycled wood shop near you. (Google will help you there.) I found a couple of pieces of timber that didn't match, but that wasn't a problem, and I had the wood shop cut them to size. It cost me 78 pence here in the UK, which works out to almost exactly $1 USD. I can't argue with the value. 

img-4108

Some time with an orbital hand sander and they looked good as new.

Andrew Hoyle/CNET

Step 3: Being reclaimed from an old bit of furniture, I think, the wood was a bit splintery and rough with visible pen and printing marks. I used an orbital hand sander and gave both pieces a thorough sanding until they looked and felt great. 

Step 4: I used Danish wood oil on an old rag (formerly an old T-shirt) and worked the oil into the wood, which gave it a darker tone. This is just an aesthetic choice that you don't need to follow if you prefer the wood's natural look. 

img-4116

Once oiled and dried, I screwed in picture hooks in order to attach the cord for hanging the frame.

Andrew Hoyle/CNET

Step 5: I screwed in two picture hooks into the piece that would form the top bar and tied cord between the two. I used enough cord to loop it back over itself three times, making it stronger overall when hung. While once or twice would probably have been enough, I was concerned that the print's weight, plus the wood at the bottom might be too much of a strain.

Step 6: Attaching the poster print to the hanging rods was the most difficult part. Premade rods often come as two pieces for the top and two for the bottom. Each pair usually snaps together using magnets, trapping the print and holding it in place. I couldn't get enough thin wood for this, so I instead opted for one larger, solid piece at either end that I would attach to the poster using small nails and glue. 

img-4126

I first attached the print to the rods using small nails. It made it easier to get the print into position and keep it taught all the way along.

Andrew Hoyle/CNET

The downside is that you can't simply swap the print out by undoing the magnets when you want a refresh. Removing the print using my solution would involve tearing the top and bottom off. On the upside, this is a very cost-effective solution if you know you want this print hanging for a long time. If that's the case, using such a permanent fixing approach will be fine. 

img-4129

I squeezed in some glue into the gaps between the nails to add extra strength.

Andrew Hoyle/CNET

The poster should be attached to the backs of the rods, with enough overlap left over so you can put the poster in place. When your print is lined up with the rod, use small nails (or a sturdy staple gun) to affix the print in place, working your way along its length to ensure it remains taut and in line. Then, with a thin-ended tube of glue, insert glue into the gaps between the nails or staples and pile some weights (I used some books and a PlayStation4 that happened to be nearby) until the glue dries. 

img-4130

And I weighted the rods down with books and a PS4 until the glue had dried.

Andrew Hoyle/CNET

Step 7: Hang your mounted print from the cord you attached onto any regular picture hook or nail in your wall. Ensure that the hook or nail is able to take the weight of your new mounted print, particularly if it's been hammered into older drywall. 

Step 8: Stand back and enjoy your lovely, massive print. 

For more Home Tips, check out the best place to put your houseplants, and how to unclog a toilet without a plunger.  


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