DIY - Customized Message Board

This DIY project is extremely simple but great for putting a personal touch on something that otherwise would be pretty utilitarian. This year I've been slowly converting my "dining room" into an office/den space, where I have my work table and hopefully soon more bookshelves and a place to sit and read comfortably.

I'm a visual person, so I like having a space where I can pin up inspirational photos or sketches and ideas I come up with. I found a plain jane cork board on sale for about $4 with the intent to dress it up a little bit.

Materials - 

• Cork board/message board
• Ribbon or shoelaces (2 pairs)
• Thumb tacks
• Glue ( I used E-6000)

Here's what I started with - 

Then I took 2 sets of shoe laces and pinned them up in an argyle pattern - sort of like a "french message board".

Originally I planned to use ribbon, but the one I wanted did not have enough length. I had these shoelaces I got at the dollar store and thought they'd be long enough to work, and the patterns coordinate. I hated that they were languishing in a drawer since I dont have shoes to use them in at the moment, so I'm happy that I was able to re-purpose them. I love the skulls and checkers together.

Oh, and of course, I had "help" while I was doing this - 

(I gave her the old sports section, so she loved me for ten minutes) 

Trim the edges and secure everything in place with some glue and more thumb tacs -

(I hope you'll forgive the haggard nails)

And here's the finished product

I like having pins and the laces, since I dont want to put holes through everything I'm posting on the board and sometimes I just dont have time to search for thumb tacs.


You could take the idea one step further and line the back with paper that you can jot things down on. Make it your own!

-B-