Corks for an Awkward Formica Windowsill Space!

KatAych
by KatAych
So we're in the midst of redoing our kitchen, slowly but surely...I've done posts about painting our cabinets and also redoing our countertops. We decided to cover this lovely green/white swirly backsplash with beadboard; I haven't gotten to that point, yet, but I wanted to share what our corner windows spot looks like:
Even the windowsill is formica. YUCK! I didn't want to beadboard the windowsill, so I thought maybe I would just paint it, instead...
I saw a photo of someone who covered their backsplash with wine corks. I had filled a large glass jug with corks "just for looks" in my kitchen, and had a lot leftover corks so I asked my husband what he thought about covering the windowsill with cork. He was onboard! The first thing I did was sort through the corks and try to pick some that had interesting pictures or pretty fonts. Then I boiled them for about 10 minutes so they would be easier to cut in half.
I wanted to do a basketweave pattern, but our windows have a "lip" that wouldn't allow me to put cork all the way up to the windows, so I had to settle for a somewhat modified pattern. We decided to paint the visible strip in front of the window white, just so the lovely green swirl wouldn't show through.
Then I got my hot glue gun out and starting gluing!
Here's the pattern I was able to fit and still allow room for the windows to slide open and closed.
The only real adjustment we had to make was when we got to the inside corner. We had to cut a few corks in half in order to fit, but it was no problem. And yes, I plan to seal it - we're going to use the same epoxy we're using for the countertop.


I'll post more pics once we get that back splash covered and a few more upgrades, but just wanted to share the idea with y'all in case anyone else had some leftover corks and was looking for an inventive use!
HHhmmm....that parsley's lookin' a little sad...
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