Pepper Design Blog

Office Makeover: New Custom Bulletin Boards!

Back with the how-to for the office’s new custom bulletin boards. You might remember the inspiration from this post and how I was really wanting to incorporate a colorful fabric into the otherwise neutral space (especially with the tan grasscloth wall, natural wood bookshelf and desk, and brown & white office organizing supplies).

My solution was a teal Thomas Paul fabric in a fun print!

That image was before the boards were covered with inspirational images, photos of the family and other general mementos (such as invites, birth announcements, etc) that in general make me smile. A happy office is a productive and comfortable workspace.

PS that’s a new Craigslist office chair find — I love the casters and the wooden frame, though she needs a good reupholstering!

I’ll admit that it looks a bit crowded on camera but up close it’s the perfect mix of whimsical inspiration and practical projects that I’m hoping to tackle. I’m sure it will get less and less ‘pretty’ as the days go on and it gets stacked with calendars, to-do lists, excel spreadsheets and the like.

The best part is that this is the view from where I sit every day:

I had set aside enough photos of Liv to cover five of these boards, but I had to edit to several of my absolute favorites {how cute is that sweet baby!}.

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Custom Fabric Bulletin Board
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Materials: board cut to size (this will be the back of the bulletin board, I used dry erase board from Lowe’s because it was light weight), wood molding, fabric, cork (I found upcycled cork placemats from Goodwill and similar sheets at Joann’s to fill in the gaps–the thicker the better!), spray adhesive or white glue, miter box (or another tool for cutting 45 degree angles), spray paint, glue gun, nail gun, caulk and a caulking gun, rag, small bucket of water

{1.} I began by building the frames for my custom bulletin board. Using fabricated molding from Lowe’s, we measured the desired length out and cut apart the molding into four pieces per frame. Then a 45 degree angle was cut into each end so that when placed together they created a rectangle (thanks, Andrew!). A miter box is helpful for doing this by hand, but if you have access to a table saw that’s your quickest cut.

{2.} Next each piece was spray painted with several coats of matte brown paint (for best results spray at least 8″ from the wood and rely on multiple coats for the best finish. One close-up coat will definitely result in dripping and bubbles).

{3.} While the frame edges dry, let’s focus on the bulletin board itself. Choose a sturdy backing for your bulletin board and have it cut to size (Lowe’s helped me with this one and I ended up using a light weight dry erase board that they sell in sheets – though a stronger material might have prevented a bit of curving).

{4.} Use a spray adhesive or white glue (such as Elmers) to attach your cork to the board backing. I used an x-acto knife to help me cut apart my cork to completely cover the board.

{5.} Cut your fabric to size allowing for at least a 2″ hem on all edges. Flip board over onto fabric so that the board and fabric are facing down. While pulling taut, glue gun fabric edges to back of board to secure fabric in place (I first tried this with a spray adhesive but it wasn’t strong enough to keep wrinkles at bay). These pictures disappeared from my camera card! So here’s a recap of my formula for attaching the fabric:

{6.} Now it’s time to assemble the bulletin board. Attach each premade edge of the frame directly to the board with a strong adhesive (we used an adhesive that fit a standard caulking gun but you could even use a glue gun here).

{7.} The adhesive keeps your edges in place while you secure the frame to the board with a nail gun. Be sure to flip the board over and use a hammer to flatten all of the pointy protruding nails.

{8.} Flipping the bulletin board back over, apply caulk to your new nail holes and all corner gaps. Wipe any excess with a wet rag (keep a small container of water near by so you can keeping dipping as you wipe).

Here’s a tip for adding a new container of caulk or sealant to a caulking gun: always cut the tip at an angle with a strong utility knife, and be sure to cut away from your body.

{9.} Wait until the caulk dries and touch up any spots with paint (I simply lined the inside of the bulletin board with newspaper and spray painted over the spots needing a touch up, but you could use a brush as well). You might have a few holes still show through a bit, but it’s not obvious unless you’re verrry close.

You’re probably wondering why you couldn’t skip the first painting step and I considered this, but I was too nervous of covering the beautiful fabric with accidental spray paint leaks and found that just touching up at the stage (since the fabric is now in place) was easiest.

Now the bulletin boards are ready to be hung! I opted to lean mine up against the wall rather than hanging above the desk:

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Yay for one more project crossed off of the list! And I really do love how they turned out.

For more Office Makeover posts, check out: handmade capiz pendant light, organizing the bookshelves, wall collage part 1, part 2, fabric bulletin board inspiration, (new) inspiration board, new lamps, wallpapering open shelves, finding the perfect credenza, new trim, dining table-to-desk, a new desk & bookshelves, installing remnant carpeting, grasscloth wallpaper, painting the office nook, finding carpet for the office, chocolate brown wall ideas, plastering progress,  inspiration for a diy desk, back in action!, desking hunting for under $300, bookcases under $300,inspirational rooms, room layout options, demo part 1 & demo part 2.

Office Makeover: Finished Fabric Corkboards

I thought that these would never be finished. Here’s a project for the office that I started a couple of months ago and have finally completed!

I was really wanting a set of custom corkboards for behind the desk so that I could hang inspirational images, fabric swatches, photos of Liv, and maybe even a work pie chart in there somewhere.

The frames were built from scratch out of engineered wood molding, the corkboards were upcycled from cork placemats from the Goodwill, the fabric is a beautiful Thomas Paul print from Calico Corners (found here) and the time and energy to assemble should have taken a few days tops but, sigh, it took a bit longer than that. (Remember when I shared my round up of bulletin board inspiration?)

I love the colors up against the grasscloth wall and I think the dark brown frame plays nicely with the other lighter wood tones (while complimenting the bronze pharmacy lamp).

This is just a quick sneak peek – it’s on its way to being covered in favorite tear sheets, remnants and pictures and I’ll be sure to take better photos in the morning light. That plus the tutorial of building these guys coming soon.

Yay! They’re finished!

Also, please stop on by Daisy Dreaming and join me as I take part in Kelsey’s wedding series where she asked me specifically about my wedding flowers – I am full of smiles when I think back on that beautiful day and I was thrilled to share my details with her.

For more Office Makeover posts, check out: handmade capiz pendant light, organizing the bookshelves, wall collage part 1, part 2, fabric bulletin board inspiration, (new) inspiration board, new lamps, wallpapering open shelves, finding the perfect credenza, new trim, dining table-to-desk, a new desk & bookshelves, installing remnant carpeting, grasscloth wallpaper, painting the office nook, finding carpet for the office, chocolate brown wall ideas, plastering progress,  inspiration for a diy desk, back in action!, desking hunting for under $300, bookcases under $300,inspirational rooms, room layout options, demo part 1 & demo part 2.

Office Makeover: New DIY Curtains

On Wednesday I shared how the guestroom portion of the office is looking right about now. You might have noticed that I moved the curtains that used to be between the kitchen and office (covering the french doors) to the big window near the bed. But they might not stay.

I’ve been using Spoonflower to play with a few handmade designs for a new pair of curtains for this area and here’s where I’m at now:

Here’s a better look at what’s going on on the bed, or the ‘test swatch’ area:

The original inspiration came from this beautiful upholstery weight suzani print from Calico Corners, but the heavy woven fabric did not lend itself well to a soft, breezy curtain that would allow light in (the walls are brown so light, even with curtains, is a must).

Have you heard of Spoonflower? You can create your own design and they’ll print it up on a variety of different types of fabric. I love it! I’ve used it for curtains in the past and went to work to create a suzani print of my very own.

The first time I ordered I used their original color guide to pick my fabric shades, and you can see from the ‘really bad color swatches’ above that I was waaaaay off. Spoonflower was great though, they sent out their latest and greatest color guide (so you know exactly what colors to send your design in for printing), and even reimbursed me one round of bad swatches.

Soon I was left with the two swatches (on two different types of fabric) that were very close color-wise to my inspiration print:

Here they are up against the natural light of the window. The fabric on the left is a sheer fabric and the one on the right is a cotton. The jury is out on which looks better at the moment… I’m nervous the sheer is too sheer and the cotton might be too prone to wrinkles. But I’m hoping to have picked one by the end of today!

My over all experience with Spoonflower has been positive. There were a few frustrating moments (aka ordering swatch upon swatch – plus waiting for shipping – and then finding horrible coloring) but their customer service is awesome and they ship for $1, so you can order all day and it won’t really cost you much. Another bonus is that there are thousands of free designs that others have uploaded – so if you’re searching for the perfect print and you just can’t find it online or at your craft store, a Spoonflower artist might just have what you’re looking for.

Decisions, decisions. Hmmm… those original curtains do work pretty well, too!

For more Office Makeover posts, check out: new shell pendant, organizing the bookshelves, wall collage part 1, part 2, fabric bulletin board inspiration, (new) inspiration board, new lamps, wallpapering open shelves, finding the perfect credenza, new trim, dining table-to-desk, a new desk & bookshelves, installing remnant carpeting, grasscloth wallpaper, painting the office nook, finding carpet for the office, chocolate brown wall ideas, plastering progress,  inspiration for a diy desk, back in action!, desking hunting for under $300, bookcases under $300,inspirational rooms, room layout options, demo part 1 & demo part 2.