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A few months ago my wife came up with the idea of covering our back porch with vintage or unusual license plates. I thought I would share a pic of the progress.
We quickly learned licenses plates are not the same size, and have change sizes many times over the years. My wife folds the trash before throwing it away, her OCD resulted in horror when she climbed down from the ladder to inspect her handiwork and noticed the plates were not lining up. With a little careful planning and re-shuffling of plates, the rows are mostly even now.
We have been searching flea markets for several months looking for plates, we recently learned several east coast states require the old plate to be turned in before you could be issued a new plate. That explains the difficulty we had finding New Jersey, Connecticut and Rhode Island, among others. We have an abundance of extra Indiana, Illinois, Ohio and Michigan plates if anyone wants them!!
By my calculations, it’s going to take around 600 plates to completely cover the ceiling. I’m guesstimating another 60-70 more are needed.
Last edited by matt69olds; Oct 10, 2023 at 02:57 PM.
I collect tags as well, and have amassed a nice collection including many from around the world. I have mine displayed in the roof beams in the attic of the shop as my wife suggested that it would clutter the actual work space. I love your ceiling display and think that it shows fantastic. One potential concern I might have is how much 600 license plates weigh and how much support you have on the porch ceiling. Again, I think that it looks terrific, and is a great way to display your collection.😀
I collect tags as well, and have amassed a nice collection including many from around the world. I have mine displayed in the roof beams in the attic of the shop as my wife suggested that it would clutter the actual work space. I love your ceiling display and think that it shows fantastic. One potential concern I might have is how much 600 license plates weigh and how much support you have on the porch ceiling. Again, I think that it looks terrific, and is a great way to display your collection.😀
That thought crossed my mind.
It’s built with 2x6 rafters on 16 inch centers. I would THINK that would be more than sufficient. I guess I’ll find out if we have a really heavy snow this winter. 😁