Upcycled Frame and Fabric Wrapped Cork Board

Today continues my adventures in spray painting. I made a fabric wrapped cork board out of a fun frame I found at Goodwill. Here's the finished product, currently chilling on my desk.

I started with this frame, which I fought and beat (not literally) another woman over at my local Goodwill.

At $10.50, it was worth the battle. That chunky scalloped trim reminded me of a good pie crust, and I figured it would look yummy spray painted white. (Please ignore the picture.)

First I wiped the frame down to get rid of any dust and dirt accumulated over the years. Then I sprayed the frame using thin, even coats until it was completely covered.

My weapon of choice was Rust-oleum spray paint in a semi-gloss white. I used a comfort grip spray nozzle attachment to get the even coverage I was going for. The spray paint and the attachment (which I can use again on future projects) were about $10.00 combined.

After the letting the frame dry according to the directions on the can, it was time to remove the picture from the frame so I could apply the cork to the picture (which was printed on a thin piece of wood rather than canvas). This required removing the staples holding the picture in place with a stapler remover.

Next I attached a roll of cork that I snagged at Michael's for about $10 to the picture. In my excitement I forgot to stop and snap some pictures but here's my process: I unrolled the cork and cut it down to fit the picture. Once I had it cut to size, I used Aleene's Tacky Spray to adhere it to the picture.

Then I placed the picture cork-side down and let the adhesive cure for 30 minutes with weight on top of it.

Once the cork was firmly attached to the picture, I wrapped it in my chosen fabric, some Waverly Lattice in Lagoon that I had turned into bathroom curtains at our old house. The only tricky part was making sure the pattern was straight on the cork board. Once I had everything the way I wanted it, I cut the fabric down, leaving a 1" edge around the cork board.

I then folded the edge over the back of the board, making sure the fabric was taught, and stapled it around all sides of the frame.

When I was done, it looked like this.

Last it was time to adhere the cork board to the frame using a staple gun.

With my custom cork board complete, I put it in place on my desk and began pinning away using 1-1/2" silver pins usually used in sewing and upholstery (just because I liked the way they looked).

I love having some inspiration to stare at as I work, blog, and surf the internet.

This project was so easy, quick, and fun that I can't wait to try some variations. Custom mirrors, anyone?