cheap and easy DIY bulletin board

check out what i made a few months ago. it's a HUGE bulletin board to display the kids' masterpieces, and i love it! i have been wanting something like this for a long time, but everything in the stores or online were super expensive. after doing some research, i found this building material called homasote that makes an amazing bulletin board...and it is CHEAP. it's made of compressed paper and works better than a cork board, in my opinion. i paid $25 for an 8x4 sheet. $25! now that's a great deal. the one you see in the picture is 6x4, so i used the remainder of it for my office (which i will post pictures of soon!). i found it at our local home depot. but, a word of warning. it is not popular here on the west coast yet, so no one knew what it was. i had an amazing service rep help me. she called the distributor to find the local dealer of this material, then called him and placed a special order for me. i love helpful sales people. here's a quick tutorial in case you want to make one for your space:

materials

homasote

fabric

4 anchors

4 finishing washers

4 long screws

tools

scissors

measuring tape

exacto knife

level

circular saw

staple gun

drill

how-to

1. cut homasote board to your desired size using your circular saw. you may want to do this outside because it makes a bit of a mess.

2. cut fabric to size, leaving at least two inches on each side to wrap around the board. if you are making a larger-sized board, you may need to sew two pieces of fabric together. or, you can be creative and sew together various fabric designs to cover your entire board!

3. lay your fabric face-down on the floor and center your homasote board on top. if your fabric has a design or pattern, be sure it is facing the right way and that the design lines up with the edges. using a staple gun, staple the center of one side, then the opposite, and then the center of each of the other two sides. be careful to pull the fabric nice and taut before you staple. then, work your way from the center of each side towards the corners.

4. for the corners, pull the point of the fabric down over the corner of the homasote, making a 45 degree angle. fold down the two sides of the fabric and tuck in the excess along the sides (like you are wrapping a present). make this as neat as possible so that there is not a lot of fabric between the board and the wall when you hang it.

5. once your board is covered, use an exacto knife to make a small 'x' in each of the four corners where you will pre-drill holes. (making slits in the fabric will help prevent the fabric from ripping or torquing when you drill the holes.) pre-drill four holes, one in each corner.

6. have your hubby or a strong friend hold the board up to your wall where you want to hang it. level your board. using one of the long screws, poke through the pre-drilled holes to mark the wall. pre-drill for the anchors.

7. hang up your board using the finishing washers and long screws.

8. step back and admire your new bulletin board!