Easy DIY Bulletin Board

As of recent, we have the extra space in the house for an 'office' area.  I use that term lightly because it basically has served more as an all purpose room verses the standard idea of what an office is.  Yes, both my husband and I have a desk in there, but it seems to be our go to area whenever we just want some time alone, work on a project, get some household paperwork done, paint or anything else we can do creative.  So when figuring out my space in the room, I pretty much knew right away I wanted a bulletin board above the desk.  To me it's perfect place for all my daily info & visual reminders of 'to do' list, monthly birthdays, rec center pool hours, summer fun calendar, etc.  I know a lot of people these days keep all their info in a handy little cell phone, but for me there is just something nostalgic about actually writing things out in a calendar, address book, post-it notes, or info for my bulletin board. I love it.  Now with all the anticipation to get this room fixed up, I didn't want to waste time trying to find or buy a cute one so I began to rummage around the house.  Fortunately enough I knew I had some left over cork squares from a different project, so I figured having that was half the battle and it'd only get easier from there.  I did end up finding a raw wood frame, a thick piece of cardboard for the back, some shelf liner I bought at Dollar Tree and a fabric scrap.

Here we go...

1)Take shelf liner paper (scrap book paper, wallpaper, wrapping paper etc.) and measure to inside rim of frame.  Cut a piece slightly larger than needed and apply to frame. Set aside to dry to you can modify later.

2) Lay the frame on the backing and trace inner part of the frame so you know exactly where the cork will need to go.

3) Measure and trim cork to fit inside frame and secure to back with heavy glue. Set aside to dry

4)  Go back to your frame and with a straight edge or knife, gently slice off excess paper around the edges.

5) Now set frame around cork and make sure there are no large gaps and is lined up correctly

6) Next flip bulletin board over and using a staple gun, attach the back to wooden frame.

7) Measure out your fabric just slightly larger than corked area

8) Apply glue to the bottom edges around frame & cork

9) Lay fabric over cork and with a small knife or letter opener, push the edges of the fabric underneath the frame

10) Set down face up and allow everything to dry and settle for a couple hours.

 

11) Enjoy!

(**note: steps 5-9  In retrospect, I think it might have been easier to have laid the fabric over the cork and applied before attaching the frame. Then there would be no need for step 9.  Still apply a small amount of glue around the edges of the cork board and trim accordingly.  Next apply frame to board and secure on back with staple gun)