image from here.
I really wanted this for my office, but did not want to pay the $129.00 price tag associated with it! (fyi -- it's now listed for $149.00 on the website!) I started out with a sheet of 2'x3' plywood (cut down from 2'x4' -- they'll usually do it for free at Home Depot). I decided that I wanted it a little bit smaller than the one from Pottery Barn, since I have limited wall space. I found some cork tiles at Target that were on clearance. I don't remember how much they cost, but I'm pretty sure it was next to nothing. The cork tiles came with their own adhesive squares, so I just used them to attach the cork to the plywood:
I was afraid that the lines between the tiles would show through the linen I had bought, plus I didn't like the look of the really flat, hard surface under the fabric, so I decided to attach some really low-end batting using a staple gun:
I used the crib-sized batting (pre-packaged) and it was a nearly perfect fit:
I then attached the linen fabric using a staple gun. I made sure to iron it before attaching it to the board, because it was extremely wrinkled (as is typical of all linen). I stapled the top and bottom sides of the fabric before tackling the corners, but forgot to take a picture of that step. I also ended up trimming all of the loose fabric and batting on the backside to make it more aesthetically pleasing (but didn't take a picture of that, either).
For the corners, I just folded the fabric on the back until the front was smooth, then stapled it:
I think I pulled the fabric too taught, because you can see that it looks a little pinched, but this is the finished product:
I still have to attach the proper hardware to hang it on the wall, but that should be relatively straightforward.
In all, this project took me about 2 hours including ironing and decorating it. It's really, really a simple project, and highly recommend it to anyone who would like to add a little something to their regular cork bulletin board! Here's a tutorial for using a store-bought bulletin board. It's also where I got my inspiration to make my own.
