Monday, March 28, 2011

Fabric Bulletin Board

Have a bulletin board that needs a quick remodel? We had two. When we were young, my mom made bulletin boards for my sister and me. She bought just your average bulletin board and painted them with our name and some pictures (I had hearts and my sister had flowers). As amazing as the bulletin board is, it just didn't fit in our new house. Plus, R had a plain (boring) bulletin board from his room at home. It looks, well, like it lived in a boy's room for 20-odd years. It was not pretty. But I can't just throw stuff away. So from apartment to apartment it sat in the closet. Then when I remodeled my office, I realized that the two walls on either side of the windows would be perfect for matching bulletin boards. But they'd need to match. And both be hung horizontally (the one my mom made had to be hung vertically). So in about an hour I transformed them.
The first step was to fine something to cover the cork with. To save some money, I first decided to look through fabric I already had and hope to God that I had something that not only matched the walls but also would fit both boards. I tried a couple different colors, but eventually settled on this pink. Not only did the color look perfect with the white trim and blue-ish walls, but it kinda sort matches my new Ikea lamps!
The next step was to take the frame off of the bulletin boards. Seems simple enough, right? WRONG. The frame is held together by these crazy looking zig-zag pieces of metal which do not want to come out! Nothing I did made them budge a millimeter! I tried a hammer (in many different ways), pliers, a staple remover... Eventually I got just a little frustrated and just started hammering away on the thing. I broke off a chunk of the back of the frame, just enough so that I could get the hammer in there and smack that stupid zig-zag out of there!
Because I was worried about breaking the frame beyond all repair, this is as much as I took apart. I gently slid the cork out of the frame and left the rest of the frame corners intact. Then I painted the frame front and sides using two coats of white paint.

While the paint was drying, I ironed the fabric like crazy. I cut each piece about 2 or 3 inches larger than the front of the board. I started at a shorter side and after making sure that the fabric was centered (to be sure I'd have enough overhand on each side), I stapled it to the back of the board. I put a staple every 3 or 4 inches or so. I then moved on to the other short side, then the two longer sides, making sure to pull the fabric as tightly as possible before stapling. This is very important because it would be very noticeable if the fabric isn't straight or tight.
All that's left is to reattach the frame, which is much much easier than removing the frame. Time start to finish? Including waiting for the paint to dry, about 2 hours. I love the new bulletin boards! They look perfect in the room! Now I just need to find stuff to hang on them! Total cost? $0.00!
See it next to the lamp? I love it!!
The new bulletin boards also inspired me to clean up my desk and bit and unpack some more office boxes.

1 comment:

  1. Thank you SOOOO much for going into detail about how you got the frame off!! Just needed to make one (for hanging guest seating tags for my daughter's wedding) and I don't think I would have been able to remove the frame if I hadn't read this post!!

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