Fabric-Covered Cork Board with a Vintage Twist

I am in the process of re-decorating my kids' playroom in our finished basement. Well, I shouldn't really say re-decorating, since I never really decorated it to begin with.

There isn't really a theme, but I've been attracted to the color combo of aqua and orange lately. So, my husband painted the playroom aqua, and I re-covered a few pillows in various aqua & orange fabrics.

Since I always buy corkboards when I find them at yard sales and thrift stores, I decided to recover two of them for the kid's yet-to-exist "homework area" in the basement. And, I wanted an excuse to use some totally cool vintage pushpins that I bought on eBay.

I have the super-simple instructions for making fabric-covered cork boards on an old post from 2008. The photos below aren't as detailed as my original post, but they should at least guide you through the process. 

Step 1: Paint the frame of the cork board

For these boards, I used Rust-Oleum Universal spray paint in orange. It is the best spray paint I have ever used, but it is usually about double the price of normal spray paint because of the easy-to-use applicator trigger. I bought this can for a buck when our local hardware store was going out of business. The color is a little brighter than what I would normally choose, but it is for a playroom and orange is my son Finn's favorite color.

The fabric in front is by Home Decor fabric by Vicky Payne in Pumpkin and the background fabric is Belle by Amy Butler in Blue.

Step 2: Glue the fabric to the cork board

I use Craft Bond spray paint to adhere the fabric to the corkboard. If you use regular tacky glue, you can see the streams of glue beneath the fabric. Also, make sure you staple the fabric to the edges using a staple gun. The trim will cover up the staples.

Step 3. Glue the trim around the edges

I have used both a Tacky Glue and a hot glue gun for this step. Either of them work fine. (And yes, that is the same trim that I've used on almost all of the fabric-covered cork boards that I've ever made. This is the very end of it. I am a little nostalgic about it, since I mentioned it in my very first blog post.)

Step 4: Add some totally awesome vintage pushpins.

These are Mitten's Movie Titlers. No, not Tittlers, you pervert. Titlers. As in movie titles. 

In the golden age of home cinema, long before fancy digital video cameras & editing software let you easily add titles to your home movies, people used individual letters pinned to a board to add titles or comments. (You can see the brown board in the background of the photo above). You would set up your titles, shoot the static shot of the board with your camera, and then splice it into your home movie. Seems like a lot of work, doesn't it?

I bought an unused set of Mitten's Movie Titlers from eBay a few weeks ago. Here are some title examples from the box:

Here are the letters up close:

And the finished product!

Aren't they cute? You could also use the letters to spell out each day of the week. Or spell out topics like Home, School, Work, etc.

How would you use the movie titler letters? Do you have any ideas to share?

Comments

[jennifer w.]

So very cute! I am attracted to orange and aqua myself. The letters are a fabulous find!

[sandy]

I am going to make some for my grandkids. Thank you

[Jenny]

Wow, I have a box of those letters that I thought about putting into the yard sale we just had, but then I forgot about it ... now I'm sort of glad. They don't have pins though. I think I am missing a few letters due to knocking the whole box over and scattering it all over creation a year or so back, but now I'm inspired to do something with 'em!

[kris cline]

I would use them for photo frames...make a cork board -like frame somehow and put the location or person's name in photo...
love those letters...and the orange fabric...be still my heart!
(Waving from Yakima-since you know where it is!

[Linda]

Those turned out fabulous~ just love the colors! I need to find some of those awesome letters!

[TAA]

It's beautiful. I would love to have them.

[Kim]

Those look great!

[Hannah at Chicken Willow]

What gorgeous pins! The boards look great.

[Stephanie Coop]

Love what you created! Your blog is always fun to read.

[Robin Z]

You just inspired me to *finally* do something about my ugly corkboard in my studio. THANK YOU for the great idea!

Robin Z

[Grumpy]

I want to know what happened to the picture of the Mountain??!!

[Wendy]

Totally cute, I love the color combo :)

[Lara Jo]

After I read your post I zipped over to eBay to see if any more of those letters were listed -- and found an auction ending in two days. Yay! But then was outbid at the last minute. Boo! I would like to know which Freshvintage fan outbid me by eighty cents. Great project! I'll keep looking for the letters...

[freshvintage]

I bid on those, too! I only paid $11 for mine a few weeks ago. And these just sold for $42. I knew I should have kept this idea a secret. ; )

[Meg]

Wierd.....just had a baby boy...and named him Finn, but if it was a girl...Maeve was top of the list!~?