Huge DIY Bulletin Board

Let me start by saying that I didn't get a lot of pictures of the process of this project.  When my husband is on board with something, he gets in there and gets down to business--which is awesome because things actually get done--another reason husbands are awesome.  But, when things get done quickly, there's not much opportunity to take pictures because it's over before you know it.

That said, it can be expensive to redo three rooms at once, and my husband isn't into lots of stuff on the walls (I'm actually going to have to sneak some things in there so the room looks finished).  He is however a very proud dad and wanted a place to proudly display lots of pictures of his girl, so I came up with this simple and inexpensive alternative to having to buy lots of frames for a gallery wall.  It also covers a good portion of one of the biggest walls in the room, so we got away with decorating an entire wall for about $20.

The opening of this is 4ft x 2 ft, so for that size, 

you'll need:

(2) 1x2 boards 8 ft in length (about $4.00/ea)

Screws

Gorilla Glue

Stain (this is Dark Walnut by Minwax)

Roll of Cork ($9.99 @ Home Depot)

L-brackets (optional)

Repositionable Spray Adhesive (optional)

A few little pointers on the roll of cork:

1. We had to ask three different people at Home Depot before someone knew where it was.  Save yourself the trouble--it's on the laundry organization aisle (you know with all of the shelving, wire baskets, etc).  

2. Don't unroll this stuff very many times before you hang it, it cracks easily (we found this out when my daughter was using it as "binoculars").  

3. And finally, this is very thin, so if you're sticking normal pushpins into it, you will have holes in the wall if you ever remove it.  You could mount it on a piece of foam core and frame around the foam core if you'd rather avoid the holes.

Oh, and just FYI, this is what you're looking for :  

(and it's sitting on the new desk, so you get a little sneak peek at that too)

Start by cutting all of your wood to the appropriate lengths--your opening in the frame needs to be slightly smaller than the cork so it overlaps it just a bit when you hang it on the wall (if you don't have a saw you could have them do this for you at the store).  And we cut ours with 45 degree angles on the corners, but you could do your ends straight if you prefer.

Glue all of the pieces together with wood glue (or super glue if you're my husband and you're impatient). If you're using wood glue, you'll want to make sure you have something to clamp it together while it dries.

Then come the L brackets.  If you remember in my Pinspiration post, I said we were going dark wood and industrial.  The husband found these L-brackets we'd had lying around forever and thought they would work well for some extra support to hold the wood together, which they did, but I love the look they added.  So on they went.  However--if you use these, watch where you're putting them.  We screwed into a knot in the corner of one of the pieces and it broke the corner off.  We had to put it back together with wood glue.

If you noticed in the picture above the L-bracket pic, because this was just the cheap wood, as I've said before, it tends to not be very straight, so we had an issue with the final corner matching up. 

 My solution: I put some Gorilla glue at the very back edge of each side of the corner--and putting it at the back edge is important because Gorilla glue expands, so if you get too much or put it too far towards the front of the frame, you'll have brown foamy looking stuff showing after it dries.  But because it expands though, it will also fill in that gap and hold it together.  Then, because I needed to clamp it somehow and give it extra support, I just stapled the s**t out of it--clamp & reinforcement all in one.  It's on the back--it doesn't have to look pretty.

To hang: position your cork on the wall and make sure it's level.  We taped one side, pulled it back, and then sprayed REPOSITIONABLE spray adhesive on the back and stuck it to the wall--press it down at one end and work your way to the other so it's smooth.  Repositionable adhesive should wash off fairly easily, should you ever decide to take this down.

Position the frame over the cork and screw it into the wall.  Since we have a rustic feel going on here, we were fine with leaving the screws exposed (if you're doing it that way, just make sure they all line up so it looks intentional).  If you want to cover the screws, you can drill them further into the frame and then either cover them with stain-able wood filler or those little wood plugs they have at the hardware store--stained to match your frame.

And that's it, easy peasy wall art.  

Just so you can see the L brackets and screws in the finished product (please ignore the gross dust on the ledge, apparently I need to dust).  This picture makes me smile, there's something about stained wood and metal that just makes my heart sing--seriously.

Linking At: 

Too Much Time on My Hands / 5 Days 5 Ways / Tatertots & Jello / Live. Laugh. Rowe / Be Different Act Normal /