Good Monday morning to you all! I hope you had a fantastic weekend and are looking forward to the week ahead! As usual, I am working on several things at once. These days, I am finishing up a few things to get our porch and yard ready for Spring (I’m pulling everything out this weekend) and my son’s up-coming (second!!) birthday party. While I’m working away on those things, I wanted to play a little catch up here on the blog! I’ve got lots and lots of projects I haven’t shown you yet, so over the next few weeks I’m going to reveal this project and that project to get us up to speed with where we are at in our house!

Today, I wanted to show you a quick project that I certainly didn’t create or think up myself: a fabric-covered inspiration board. I really wanted some sort of bright, cheery board for our craft room/home office. There are so many good ideas and tutorials out there, but I thought I’d throw my take on it out there too – after all, everyone has a different way to accomplish a similar look! Let me show you how I went about customizing this store-bought cork board for our craft room/home office!

I really wanted a big inspiration board for above my craft work station, and I really wanted it to have a chunky wood frame. We are not super construction savvy in this house, so when I found this good-sized bulletin board at HomeGoods for $40, I knew I could make it work exactly right for my space!

This project was quick and simple – let me show you what I did!

Here was the catch with this particular board/frame: it had a finished, stapled and papered shut backing. As in the kind of backing you get with professional framing…as in, not super easy or simple to pop out the cork board, paint the frame, cover the cork board with fabric and pop it back in. I decided that instead of removing the backing, I would “make do” with the board as it was.

I started by covering the cork board with cardboard (from old boxes) and painters tape. I then gave the frame a light sanding and wiped it clean of dust.

I primed the frame with my usual Zinsser 123 primer and then painted it using some of Martha Stewart’s Tailor’s Chalk (leftover from our dining room) mixed with some Floetrol to reduce brush strokes.

I gave the frame two good coats of white, followed by two light coats of poly spray.

While the paint was STILL WET, I removed the tape and cardboard covering to reveal a nice clean white frame!

Next, I measured out the cork board size, adding an inch total (1/2″ on either side). I then cut out my fabric to the right size.

Next, I used spray adhesive to attach my fabric to the cork board. Although the picture below suggests that I sprayed the cork board, I actually opted to spray the backside of the FABRIC instead. This stuff is ubber-sticky, and there was no way to keep it from getting on my pretty white frame.

With the back of my fabric sprayed with adhesive, I placed it wrong side down onto my cork board surface. I worked quickly to smooth wrinkles and pull everything nice and taught. Once my fabric was flat, I was left with that 1/2″ border all the way around my frame.

Any flat edge would work here (i.e., flathead screwdriver, butter knife, etc). I simply went around the edge of the board, tucking and smoothing the fabric under the frame. In some areas I had to “loosen” the cork board from the frame, but not so much that it was completely free from the frame.

It worked like a champ. By the end of an afternoon, I had a pretty and perfectly matching cork board for our craft room/home office.

I ultimately decided to hang it horizontally because it filled the wall better!

I added some vinyl wall decals above the board, as well as some hanging storage below.

It’s perfectly situated in the center of my craft station to pin up whatever I need to keep handy!

This craft wall is still a work in progress…I should have updates here for you soon! For now, one more glance at the before/after!

Hope you all have a great Monday! I’ll be back Wednesday with a look at our almost-finished dining room!

See You Soon!
Megan