How to Transform an Ugly, Brown Cork Board With Fabric

by Jessica Coplen

Both of my kids had those boring, brown cork boards that they wanted to display in their rooms. I loved that they wanted to cover them with pictures (both that they had drawn and also of photos of themselves and family members). I did not love that the brown-ness clashed with everything in their rooms.

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I set out to find fabric that would work, and selected a pin dot pattern in aqua and white for Addy, and a really neat map print for Brady. I knew these prints would work perfectly with the decor we’ve been working on for their rooms.I got 1 and 1/2 yards of each fabric, just to be safe. I probably only used 1 yard in the end.

Then I used Loctite Spray Adhesive on both the backside of the fabric, and on the cork board itself. I think this is an ABSOLUTE MUST for this project to turn out. I’ve worked with this spray adhesive a couple times before (when I was making our DIY Headboard, and again with I was lining drawers of the infamous hutch). In those instances I didn’t feel it was necessary to use the spray. This time, you must use the spray!!!

Once I had both parts coated pretty well, I placed the fabric on top of the cork board. I started in the center and began smoothing the fabric with my fingers. It was pretty easy to get it all stretched out and nice and smooth. I could already tell at this point that I was going to love the outcome of this project.

I let it sit and dry flat for a little bit, and then flipped the edges over to the back and stapled them down. I use a staple gun like this and it’s worked great for quite a few projects. Someday I hope to upgrade to a staple gun like this! I worked around the corners and then I cut off the excess fabric. The back doesn’t look pretty…but it doesn’t have to. (This picture is before I removed the excess fabric.)

I’m thrilled with the way these cork boards turned out!!! I have to say, that map print is PERFECT. It’s my favorite of the two (shhhhh….don’t tell Addy!). I also have to say that I think the type of fabric does has an affect on the outcome. The map print was a little bit heavier duck, and the blue dot (which the pictures don’t do justice, but in person is really cute) was a thinner cotton twill. The heavier fabric was much easier to smooth out; I can already see some wrinkles in the blue dot fabric.