How to Make a Framed, Decorative Bulletin Board

Months and months ago, I picked up this empty frame at an estate sale.

If I remember right I paid $18 for it, and I knew immediately that I wanted to make a bulletin board for my kitchen out of it.

I brought it home, told you about it in a thrifting post, and then got busy with other things.

Busy for weeks, and months, and even entire seasons, apparently, because I didn’t do anything with it. Until right before Christmas when I decided to get going.

Because, obviously, the holidays are the best time to try and take on a DIY project you’ve let sit since June.

It wasn’t always the prettiest project, but here were the steps:

The first thing I did was cut a piece of cardboard to fit the frame and cover it with fabric, hot gluing the sides to the back.

And after some failed attempts at tying lengths of twine around the cardboard to hang things from, I put it back in the frame and up on the wall, planning to get back to it soon.

Then Christmas was upon us and, not wanting to host our family gathering with a framed piece of fabric on the wall, I hung a Christmas decoration on it until after the holidays.

That actually didn’t work out too bad. I kinda liked it.

But the Christmas decorations finally came down and I was back to a framed piece of fabric. It was time to finish the bulletin board.

Realizing that whatever was going to hold things on the bulletin board was going to have to be attached to the back of the cardboard in some way, I decided to give thumbtacks a try. And I found a pretty new spool of ribbon at Michael’s to use too.

But the piece of cardboard I had was too thin and the thumbtacks poked through, so I glued a second piece of cardboard to the first and then attached the thumbtacks (told ya it wasn’t pretty).

And once all that business was done, I popped it back into the frame and secured it all with duck tape. In fact, this part is so ugly, I’m only go to show you a little corner of it.

You get the idea.

But when I put the finished product on the wall of my kitchen, it wasn’t ugly. It turned out just like I hoped it would.

And I’m kind of loving putting things in it.

I’m just getting started but I hope it ends up like the one in my office, that I’ve had for years.

That one is full of ticket stubs and old pictures and new pictures and post cards and notes from my kids.

It’s like a scrapbook on a wall and it feels like art to me. I like that it’s chaotic, but contained at the same time.

If I were doing this project again, I would definitely try to find or cut some cork board to fit the frame, instead of using cardboard.

I couldn’t find any pre-cut in the size I needed and — after months of letting this project sit — I decided I wanted it done RIGHT NOW! (Please tell me you do that kind of thing too.)

Also, the ribbon or wire or twine or whatever you choose to use needs to be very, very tight. Mine is just ever slightly too loose, but it works. Of course you could always use thumb tacks or push pins too.

Do you have a bulletin board in your home? What kind of things are on it?

This post is part of The William Morris Project, Show and Tell Friday, Penny Pinching Party and Tutorials, Tips & Tidbits.

Tagged as: Decorating and Home Improvement