My son recently attended a birthday party for a classmate whose family is from France. When we left the party, he opened up his goodie bag and found a little folded up piece of tissue paper with some small items inside. Inside the paper were tiny clips and ladybug push-pins. I absolutely loved it! It was such a cute, dainty and somewhat dangerous gift to put in a child's goodie bag. An American suburban mom would never even think to hand this out to children, but that's why I loved it so much! Why can't we trust our children to be able to handle push-pins? Are they really that irresponsible? We need to give them more credit. Anyhow, these little push-pins inspired me to buy a bulletin board for my son's room.
My sister and I always had a bulletin board in our room (we shared a room) when we were growing up and I loved it. I was always hanging up awards, letters from friends, and artwork. I wanted my son to have a place to display all of the things that he creates.
I happened to have an Amazon gift card so I decided to order the bulletin board from that website. I read several reviews and ended up picking one in the $15 price range.
I was a little bit disappointed when it arrived because it was basically a piece of cardboard with a thin layer of cork over it. I remembered my childhood bulletin board being a metal frame with a very thick piece of cork board inside, very sturdy! But I decided to use what I had and perhaps I'll make another one out of a better quality board in the future. Anyhow, here are the steps for personalizing your bulletin board:
1. The back of the board seemed a little bit flimsy so I hot glued the corners of it. That way there was no chance of it popping out.
2. I sanded the frame with 100 grit sandpaper.
3. After sanding, I wiped down the frame with a damp cloth to remove any wood residue.
4. I put blue painter's tape on the cork around the inside of the frame to protect the cork from paint.
5. I propped the board on a book and painted a payer of primer on the frame. I used Sherwin Williams Premium Wall & Wood Primer.
6. After allowing a day for it to completely dry, I painted a coat of color. I used Sherwin Williams Proclassic Semi-Gloss in Lime Rickey.
7. After waiting a day for it to completely dry, I painted another coat of color.
8. (This step may not be necessary, but I did it for good measure.) After the final coat of color dried, I covered the cork with newspaper and sprayed the frame with a sealer to protect it. I used Folkart Acrylic Sealer.
9. I removed the newspaper and painter's tape. This is the part that I didn't anticipate. Be VERY careful when you remove the painter's tape. Some of the tape started to pull up the thin layer of cork from the cardboard backing. I ended up having to superglue parts of the cork back down.
10. Screw the hooks on the back of the board and hang on the wall.
I was going to do a final step but ended up not doing it because I wanted to wait and see if I can find a better quality board. I was going to buy the letters of my son's name from Michael's Arts & Crafts and spray paint them and hot glue them along the top. Even without the letters though, I'm very happy with the color of the frame and the way it turned out. It goes perfectly in my son's room and he loves it! He also loves that I have trusted him with the oh-so-dangerous push-pins!
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