DIY Tutorial: Embellished Bulletin Board

Alright friends, here is my first DIY of the summer!  To be quite honest, I'm absolutely jazzed about how this came out.  My bulletin board was a little tacky and awful-looking before (as you can see), but now it's chic and worthy of admiring!  Writing lyrics in stickers on the edge was my idea of "sprucing it up" when I was fifteen.  Not sure what I was thinking...  Anyway, here's a super easy way to restyle your bulletin board in a "grown-up" way.  ;)

So here's what you'll need:

1. //  A bulletin board

2. //  Enough fabric to cover your bulletin board

3. //  Spray adhesive

4. //  Upholstery tacks (I used about 220)

Simple, right?  Yes!

First off, iron your fabric.  After it's been sitting rolled up on a shelf for who knows how long, those creases really work into the fabric.  And you don't want a creased-looking bulletin board, do you?

Spray your bulletin board with the adhesive.  Technically you're supposed to spray the fabric (as is the case with the bottle I have), but it seemed easier to do it this way, so repositioning the fabric is a breeze.  Once it's sufficiently covered with adhesive, throw your fabric over that puppy.

Run your hands over the whole thing, using some weight, to make sure the fabric really "adheres."  My adhesive is 'heat-activated' so I ran the iron over the board.  Seems unconventional but it seemed to work!

Begin to place your upholstery tacks along the edge.  Go slowly.  It takes a while to learn to spot the distance needed between tacks, so take your time at first.  And if it's not already, a screwdriver will become your best friend.  Use the back end of it to push the tacks into the board (trust me, your fingers will thank you!), and use the screwdriver end to pull up any tacks that need repositioning (your nails will thank you).

Continue in this manner all the way around.  Once you're done, flip the board over and spray adhesive onto the leftover fabric and apply it to the back of the board.  A glue gun will work just as well, but I couldn't find mine, so I used the spray.  You'd be surprised to hear that it worked like a charm!

That's it!  I told you it'd be easy.  ;)  As you can see, I started to work on creating some magazine art for my new bulletin board.  I'll definitely be devoting my evening to doing some more of this, and finding a new home for this guy!  It doesn't quite deserve to be on the floor anymore.  ;)  If you do this DIY, be sure to share links to your pictures in a comment!  xx

currently listening to.... Secrets - OneRepublic