Jump to content

Menu

Cork board alternatives?


Recommended Posts

I want a cork board. :) A big one, like bulletin board size. But they are so expensive! There must be cheaper alternatives??

 

We have a 3x5 chalkboard that was given to us, and we tried covering it with the cork tiles, but they fell off after the first night! DH used the stickies that come in the package, but he does have something a little more heavy-duty that we could use. Trouble is, the tiles fell off in pieces and honestly, I wasn't crazy about the look of them anyway. I really don't want to put more money into more tiles if I can find something that doesn't look as thrown together as that. I saw some cork in a roll, but I'd have to buy 2 rolls and piece it together as well - and it was very thin. I wonder if a push-pin would even go in far enough to hold stuff?

 

I was at AC Moore tonight and saw some foam board - like 2 pieces of poster board with a layer of foam sandwiched between them...would something like that work on the chalkboard? Would it hold the push-pins/papers? Would it look awful after I poked holes in it a month or so?

 

Are there any other ideas that would be inexpensive but effective? I got the idea of turning the dining room table into a dry-erase board here, and I'm hoping for something just as "a-ha!" for a cork board.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We have cork flooring in our kitchen and used extra tiles to put on the wall. Dh put them up with some kind of glue and they stick well. They look great, fairly seamless. The tiles are each about 1 square foot. I'm not sure how much the cost as dh is an architect and gets a discount when ordering. But maybe you could check out a local flooring company and see if they have any samples/extras.....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We put up a cork board but I didn't want to stick things directly to the wall. We had a sheet of very thin backer board? not sure what it is called but you can buy it at home depot. We covered it with the little squares of cork and then put over that a layer of felt to make it look pretty and keep little fingers from digging at the cork. We bolted it to the wall. It would be easier to patch holes than scrape cork off the walls.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, I think it's spelled Homasote. It's a type of wallboard made of recycled paper, held together with some sort of glue. It's ugly, but you can cover it with fabric. It'll hold pins. Or, you can wrap ribbons in a diagonal panel, hold down the intersections with pins, and just stick the corners of your pictures or cards or whatever under the ribbons to hold them in place.

 

I think you could also do this with ceiling panels, the kinds they have in schools, that rest in the metal frame of a false ceiling.

 

They sell both things at Lowe's or Home Depot.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ooh, thanks!

 

We went to Home Depot to look for a few things, and it turns out the ceiling tile was the cheapest. We got 3 - 2'x4' tiles for about 11 dollars!!

 

Then I went to Walmart and got some felt to cover it, so add another 9 dollars.

 

Now I'm just having a problem trying to attach the felt to the tiles, lol. Thanks for that video - (it's the one on the bottom for anybody who wants to watch it...I watched almost the whole 10 minutes of the one on the top before I realized there was another one, lol.) I've tried a regular stapler and some sort of 3m adhesive spray, but I haven't tried her suggestion of the STAPLE GUN. I know we have one somewhere in the abyss that is my DH's tool space in the garage...but of course, he's got overnight duty now that I need to find something.

 

Thanks for all the suggestions/ideas! Hopefully before Christmas, haha, I'll have some pictures to share.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The felt may be too heavy (thick) for the staples to hold. You might need to try a thin cotton material. They make all sorts of prints, in all sorts of colors and designs, and it's not expensive.

 

If you can't use the felt for the corkboard (bummer) you could staple it to some plywood to make a felt board.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...