Recycled License Plate Border

Looking for a fun border for a boy's room or a "man cave"?

My 15-year old son has always been into cars and motorcycles. So, when we were looking for something unique to decorate his room, I had only to look as far as his closet! He likes to collect license plates, and now we have a way of displaying them. He has paneling on the walls (something I know I'll be changing in the distant future) but this can be done on a drywalled wall too.

I attached them all the way around the room just below the ceiling, in the same place you'd put a wallpaper border. I used tiny finishing nails to attach them so that he can swap them out and change them around any time he'd like. Each has two holes in the top that are standard, so it's easy to change them around. He's trying to collect all 50 states, so as he gets new ones, he takes down duplicates.

 (got a little carried away with Picnik on the photo :-) thus, the B&W area)

If you don't want to attach your license plates this way, you could affix something like a plate rail molding (as some craftsman and Victorian homes have) all the way around and then set the license plates in the plate groove. You'd have to check your building supply store for possible molding that would work.

When we came to a corner, we used smaller license plates from motorcycles, but you can easily bend a metal plate in half to hang in a corner. 

Where can you find license plates? We shopped at garage sales, asked relatives to check their garages, and talked with others who collect plates that might have ones to give away. It took around 50 license plates to go around his 11x15 foot room. If you If you don't have enough to go all the way around, consider doing just one wall. 

Wouldn't this be cool in a den, or the office of an auto repair shop too?

Other things to do with license plates.

There are other ideas out there on the web for decorating with recycled license plates. HGTV has some ideas for making a message board, a photo album, and storage binders here. 

And interior designer Julie Thigpen on her BelleMaison blog shows this mirror on her site:

I know there are many more ideas out there, but I'll save some for another time. I'd love to hear your ideas for how you've used vintage plates.
 
I'm linking up this week to:

 Reinvented's Trash To Treasure Tuesday