The fourth love of my life...
I get asked constantly about this thing, so I guess it's time to do a post.
You may have already noticed him in random pictures or post, but I don't think I've ever formally introduced him.
Meet my cork board...
Here he is in all his glory. He may or may not be one of my most favorite things I own in my house and yes, he's as big as he looks. Your eyes are not deceiving you.
If he ever makes an appearance in a picture, I get asked at least once for his details, so here his story.
I will not take credit for him all myself. A few years back, one of my favorite bloggers was Darby from Fly Through Our Window. She no longer blogs, but you can stillstalk find her and her cute family on instagram. Well, she has a huge bulletin board hanging in her home and I had pined for it the moment I saw it. I've tried to search her blog, but cannot find a picture of it now. I do remember her once saying that she ordered it from a school supply company, so for the next two years, I would every so often search the web for a large cork board.
However, they ran about $120 and yes, that doesn't seem like much, but when your shelling out for diapers and formula every week, it was more than I could spend at the time. It became one of those things that I really wanted but just could never justify spending the money on.....you catch my drift?
Two Christmases ago, my mother-in-law started asking what I wanted for Christmas. After not really giving her anything to work with for weeks, I asked if she would buy me a cork board for Christmas. You can only imagine the "mmmkay....." that I got. I promised her it was something that A). I really wanted but wouldn't buy myself, B). I had a plan for it, and C). I promised to not hate her later for giving me a cork board for Christmas.
Reluctantly, she agreed.
I decided on a 4 foot x 6 foot size because I felt like it would give me the bigness I wanted, yet we could still move it around to different places if needed.
She had to order it online from a school supplies company. We don't remember now who exactly she ordered it from, but expect it to be anywhere in the price range of $120-$150. I have looked at several different companies over the years and that seems to be the going rate.
You can get them bigger (I believe Darby's board is bigger), but obviously that is a little more expensive.
Sad as it might sound, I was excited to get a cork board for Christmas.
Then in my true procrastinating form, it sat around for almost eight months before we finally got around to finishing it. I cannot tell you how many times my mother-in-law would still question my crazy cork board needs being that it sat there for that long.
Finally, Dave and I got to working on it. Mainly because even though its big, it was kinda flimsy and really needed to be hung up before it was tore up by a certain two year old.
I used about two yards of burlap to cover the front. It ended up being the perfect size, so I did not need to cut the burlap or anything. I had debated at one time covering it with some type of patterned fabric, but decided to keep things neutral instead. I actually used flat thumb tacks to hold the burlap in place and then went around the edge with a staple gun. The molding covered the thumb tacks easily, so no need to worry about removing them.
After I covered it with burlap, David framed it out with some pre-primed molding. Nothing special, just the stuff from home depot.
I believe he glued it and then he nailed it down. We glued it so it would be a little more sturdy, however, I'm kinda stuck with the burlap now. I was okay (and still am) with that decision. It goes with everything and looks timeless to me. I mean burlap has been around for awhile now.
You may notice that the sides don't really connect all the way to each other at the top. That was the longest those pieces of wood came in on and you don't really notice it unless you look really close, so we just went with it. It doesn't bother us, but you might want to look for something else if it would bother you.
He also added a little bit of caulk anywhere their were openings where the wood met.
After he got everything glued, nailed down, and caulked, I put several layers of painters tape on the edge of burlap and then VERY CAREFULLY painted the frame white. I think I did three or four coats just to be good.
I'm sure you could also paint before hand and then do touch ups, but for some reason, I didn't go that route.
I mentioned earlier that in its original state, the cork board is pretty flimsy. However, once you add the frame around it, it becomes pretty sturdy. I doubt you could break it after that. Just be careful moving it around when you first get it.
Not quite sure what he used to hang it, but I know it's up there pretty good. We've never had it fall or even budge when someone touches it.
You may have already noticed him in random pictures or post, but I don't think I've ever formally introduced him.
Meet my cork board...
Here he is in all his glory. He may or may not be one of my most favorite things I own in my house and yes, he's as big as he looks. Your eyes are not deceiving you.
If he ever makes an appearance in a picture, I get asked at least once for his details, so here his story.
I will not take credit for him all myself. A few years back, one of my favorite bloggers was Darby from Fly Through Our Window. She no longer blogs, but you can still
However, they ran about $120 and yes, that doesn't seem like much, but when your shelling out for diapers and formula every week, it was more than I could spend at the time. It became one of those things that I really wanted but just could never justify spending the money on.....you catch my drift?
Two Christmases ago, my mother-in-law started asking what I wanted for Christmas. After not really giving her anything to work with for weeks, I asked if she would buy me a cork board for Christmas. You can only imagine the "mmmkay....." that I got. I promised her it was something that A). I really wanted but wouldn't buy myself, B). I had a plan for it, and C). I promised to not hate her later for giving me a cork board for Christmas.
Reluctantly, she agreed.
I decided on a 4 foot x 6 foot size because I felt like it would give me the bigness I wanted, yet we could still move it around to different places if needed.
She had to order it online from a school supplies company. We don't remember now who exactly she ordered it from, but expect it to be anywhere in the price range of $120-$150. I have looked at several different companies over the years and that seems to be the going rate.
You can get them bigger (I believe Darby's board is bigger), but obviously that is a little more expensive.
Sad as it might sound, I was excited to get a cork board for Christmas.
Then in my true procrastinating form, it sat around for almost eight months before we finally got around to finishing it. I cannot tell you how many times my mother-in-law would still question my crazy cork board needs being that it sat there for that long.
Finally, Dave and I got to working on it. Mainly because even though its big, it was kinda flimsy and really needed to be hung up before it was tore up by a certain two year old.
I used about two yards of burlap to cover the front. It ended up being the perfect size, so I did not need to cut the burlap or anything. I had debated at one time covering it with some type of patterned fabric, but decided to keep things neutral instead. I actually used flat thumb tacks to hold the burlap in place and then went around the edge with a staple gun. The molding covered the thumb tacks easily, so no need to worry about removing them.
After I covered it with burlap, David framed it out with some pre-primed molding. Nothing special, just the stuff from home depot.
I believe he glued it and then he nailed it down. We glued it so it would be a little more sturdy, however, I'm kinda stuck with the burlap now. I was okay (and still am) with that decision. It goes with everything and looks timeless to me. I mean burlap has been around for awhile now.
You may notice that the sides don't really connect all the way to each other at the top. That was the longest those pieces of wood came in on and you don't really notice it unless you look really close, so we just went with it. It doesn't bother us, but you might want to look for something else if it would bother you.
He also added a little bit of caulk anywhere their were openings where the wood met.
After he got everything glued, nailed down, and caulked, I put several layers of painters tape on the edge of burlap and then VERY CAREFULLY painted the frame white. I think I did three or four coats just to be good.
I'm sure you could also paint before hand and then do touch ups, but for some reason, I didn't go that route.
I mentioned earlier that in its original state, the cork board is pretty flimsy. However, once you add the frame around it, it becomes pretty sturdy. I doubt you could break it after that. Just be careful moving it around when you first get it.
Not quite sure what he used to hang it, but I know it's up there pretty good. We've never had it fall or even budge when someone touches it.
As you can see, we pretty much hang everything on it. This is where I hang invitations, thank you cards, holiday cards, and obviously...school work. I clean it off about twice a year or when ever it runs out of room.
I've actually had a few people offer to buy it from me, but sorry, not going to happen. I love it and cannot see myself parting with it anytime soon.
It might just be that one thing I'd grab in a fire...after my kids of course.
That's if I could get it off the wall.
Oh, and my mother-in-law finally stopped questioning my craziness over a cork board.
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