How to Re-Cover an Old Bulletin Board

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20.5.10

How to Re-Cover an Old Bulletin Board

Bulletin board at angle

I am in the process of re-doing the whole color scheme of my sewing room. It was all pastels, but in our new home, everything is earth tones. I REALLY wanted to keep my pastels but until I have a room that can be shut off from the rest of the house, that just won’t work.

 Are your colors married--Sewing Room makeover

The problem is that you walk straight from the sewing room into the kitchen and from there into the dining room. It’s very open and as Maria from Colour Me Happy so rightly points out…we needed a marriage between these rooms and their color schemes. As you can see…I had a serious problem!

Re-Covered Bulletin Board 028

So little by little, I’m making the room over. The easy (though sentimentally painful) part was packing up the old pastel blue and pink decor. It will have to wait for a teenager to head off to college I guess before it will have a room to grace.  Then I took my border which has yet to be installed in the kitchen and Rebekah, my daughter, and I set off for some fabric bargain shopping.

rooster


We bought the whole bolt of this guazy plaid fabric (at $.0.50/yd!) because the colors perfectly matched the green and cream I wanted. Those are the colors of my wallpaper throughout most of the house. It also did not clash with  the previously purchased French rooster border. (I was replacing the southwestern decor with antique looking roosters.)  I wanted the sewing room to have a ‘spring’ feel..but bright spring green wasn’t a good replacement for the pastels..I needed something a shade dustier.

wallpaper

So, now we’ve got slip covers to sew from creamy white upholstery fabric (1.99/yard on clearance), and table top and portable desk top covers to make from the plaid gauze.  I did buy a new floral centerpiece for the room (50% off at Hobby-Lobby) and two prints from our local thrift store that are perfect!! Now I need to paint the frames and perhaps the curtain rod in the room with the dusty green spray paint I got from Wal-Mart.   I’m waiting for my mom’s help for painting the room. :o)

thrift store bulletin boards

The first project was to re-cover the bulletin boards to match the new decor. They were very cheap from the thrift store..and were really tacky, in my opinion. Here’s how we did it.

remove hardware

First we removed and saved the hanging hardware, and then removed all the covers and ribbon.

Pin cloth

Then I laid the plaid on the diagonal and very carefully pinned it in place. It was a bit stretchy, so I really had to be careful with all those obvious lines needing to be straight!

trim excess cloth to two inches

I cut around the top and sides first where I  had the least amount of fabric and then cut off the excess yardage at the bottom.

Re-Covered Bulletin Board 008

I wanted enough border to be able to fold it under.

staple fabric in place

Then I stapled it all in place. My hubby told me to hammer the staples in afterward if they didn’t go all the way in. 
hammer staples in

I also stapled all the ribbons where we wanted them. We pinned the ribbons on the board like a gift package with overlapping ribbon on the top, sides and bottom. Then we cut a separate piece just to make a bow. It used exactly one spool of ribbon to do the whole thing. (about 3 yds.)

glue buttons in place

Next we chose some buttons from the button tin to put where the old flowers and decor used to be and hot glued them in place. I love th  new cordless hot gun that my sister gave me for Christmas!


Re-Covered Bulletin Board 029

It was only afterward that I realized we need something more as the buttons looked a wee bit plain. So I dug through my gift wrap dresser and found some wire ribbon and pinched it on one side into a flower shape. I just glued it in place. 

New Sewing Room Decor

Now…for the second board! But already I think the room is starting to look very complimentary to the country style and earth tones of our new home.  Don’t you?

I had so much fun that I decided to share this at Shabby Chic Cottage’s Transformation Thursday and Shabby Nest's Frugal Friday...two great websites for inexpensive and creative home decor!  Drop by and tell them I sent you! If you have a great project, there’s probably plenty of time to add a link to your latest project!

Happy Homemaking!
Donna

9 comments

Room for More said...

PERFECT! I need to do this with a couple of boards I have and just needed the 'plans'. Thank you!! BTW, I love you earth tones (you knew I would)!

Donna said...

You are so right, Shannon, this would look great in your house!

I'm glad I could help. I had never done this before, but I've found that when you get to looking at how something is put together, it's pretty easy to replicate.

I'm off to a date but will stop by later this evening. I'm still sick so we aren't doing anything energetic, but I seem to be recovering fast. Must be all that healthy eating! or perhaps just Debra Raybern's super tonic..now a year old!!

Laura said...

Hello Donna,
This is too cute! Thanks for sharing the idea...I think I'll do something similar with the plain old boring bulletin board we have in the kitchen. Your house looks terrific!
Blessings,
Laura

Dana Leeds said...

Oh, that looks great! Though I love to make crafts, I really don't decorate much. Maybe I can try something this summer. :-)

Donna said...

Bulletin boards are so versatile and kids love them. It gives them an opportunity to express themselves. All you need is some extra fabric to make one match just about any decor!

Maria Killam said...

Donna, I loved this post and thank you so much for the mention! I think you've done a beautiful job! Thank you so much for your thoughtful comments on my blog!
x
Maria

Breathing In Grace said...

Really like your new colors, Ms. Donna!!!

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