A Quick and Easy DIY Cork Board

Since I posted about my inspirations for making over my home office space here I've been very motivated and focused to get the process started.  So far I've managed to collect the artwork I plan to hang, and I believe I may have finally found my storage solution (that will be saved for a later post though).  As I have been contemplating the functionality of this space, and planning the wall arrangement for my artwork and photos I realized I could really use a cork board on the wall as well to keep important items in plain sight.  I needed a long and skinny one, however, to hang just above the desk, but below everything else.  I searched around online and could not find anything quite the right shape or size.  

With inspiration from this Pottery Barn organization collection, as well as this Young House Love post in the back of my mind I realized I could easily make exactly what I wanted myself.  

I found the same 4 pack of square cork boards at Target used in the YHL post for about $7.  I also luckily had an old long, skinny, white picture frame hiding in the back of one of my closets, unused for several years.

I removed the mat and the glass from the frame.  Then, using the backing as my template I marked my cork squares to the correct width.

I could not find an exacto knife in my home, so I used regular scissors to cut the cork, which worked just fine.  I would recommend an exacto knife, though, if you have one for a cleaner cut.

I then placed the cork pieces inside the frame, and used the adhesive squares that came with the pack to adhere the frame backing.

And then VOILA!  An attractive, functional, custom cork board is born!

I still need to actually hang it, but you can get some idea of how it will look from this photo (and notice how much less cluttered it is since the photo from this post).  I can't wait to finish this makeover!

Have any of you made a custom cork board before?  What other small DIY projects have you tackled lately?

Wednesday Perk: Home Office Inspiration

While I am in full holiday mode right now, I also can't help but start to focus on the plans I have for the new year.  We'll have a post dedicated to new year goals later this month, but I just can't wait to share some inspiration for the first big home project I have planned for 2013.  My husband and I share our second bedroom as office space, we have both of our desks in there and it works perfect that we both have our own little areas.  My husband has his area set up to his liking and regularly uses his space.  I on the other hand have failed to actually maximize and utilize my area.  Instead I have unintentionally turned it into hodgepodge storage.

Yeah, this is out of control.

However, with some personal plans I have for 2013 I really need to wrangle this space and make it both inspirational and functional.  So with that said here are some of the things I have found around the web to inspire this little home office makeover.  I also promise to share all of the before and after pictures, and tutorials on how various pieces of the project are accomplished.

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Here's a lovely, functional mail organizer from Less is More on Etsy that has me drooling.  While it's a bit pricey, it is definitely sparking ideas.

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The color, not necessarily the vases, is what I'm focused on here.  With a white desk, I think some aqua accents would be lovely and just the right pop of color to cheer me up.  There are some current organizational pieces in use that, while super functional, are simply hideous in their current state.  A quick coat of pretty paint should do the trick, however, I'll probably tone down the color just a little bit. 

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Perhaps the biggest part of this coming makeover is the plan to upholster a chair.  Currently in use is an old Ikea dining chair, which has no upholstery.  The plan is to add at the minimum an upholstered seat, however I could go crazy and turn it into something like the picture above.  While this chair is done with lovely yellow and two contrasting prints, my plan is to use the same gray and white fabric on this chair below (M actually gave me this fabric months ago, so color me shocked and excited when I saw it on this chair on YHL).

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Currently the wall above my desk is completely bare, so some sort of artwork is necessary to complete the look.  I love this print by Hoot Design Co. representing my hometown, combined with some personal photos I think this would help inspire me on those days when creativity feels blocked.

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What desktop would be complete without a few whimsical items?  At least this adorable ceramic fox also functions as a speaker, but I think I would definitely have to add a colorful owl or two to the mix as well.

         West Elm Ceramic Fox Speaker                                        West Elm St. Jude Ceramic Owls

Lastly, this little home office space must be multi-functional.  For me, this means that I need space to work when necessary, as well as the ability to serve as storage and organization for many many different things.

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   Anything from craft supplies, photography equipment, important personal documents, and of course actual work, needs to have a place to be stashed away here.  I'm still brainstorming what the perfect storage solution will be, something that won't break the bank is a must.  Perhaps a simple filing cabinet makeover like this one my friend Becca over at Gypsy Soul did will do the trick.

Do you have any decorating makeover plans to start the new year off right?



Young House Love DC Book Signing

First, we really want to say thank you so much for the responses to M's post yesterday.  Getting so personal was definitely hard, but it seemed to resonate with people so we will try to include more posts like that in the future.

Now, onto something a little more fun, the Young House Love book signing at FLOR in DC!!!!!  We have to acknowledge that YHL is one of the blogs that helped inspire us to even start this little thing, so of course we were excited to see a signing for their new book here in DC.  Unfortunately M had other commitments Wednesday so I flew solo to the event.  I got to Georgetown (FLOR is on 33rd St just off of M st. NW) at about 6:05, the signing wasn't supposed to start until 6:30.  So thinking that I didn't want to be the crazy person standing outside the door a half hour early I thought I might run over to CB2 to just kill some time.  Luckily I happened to glance down the street towards FLOR because an ENORMOUS line had already formed. I scrapped my CB2 plan and quickly rushed to grab a spot for myself.  While I ended up pretty far back in line, I was lucky enough to have a view of the upper windows of FLOR where we could see John and Sherry getting ready for the event.  It was so cute to see them taking pictures of all of us in line while we were all holding up our cameras taking pictures of them.

See Sherry up there!  Oh and that dude on the left that looks like he might be John, he's not and there's a funny story about that below.

At first it felt a little lonely to be standing in such a huge line all by myself, but as luck would have it I suddenly saw a friend of mine walking up and she happened to meeting up with some friends who were only 3 people behind me, SCORE!  So to keep her from having to jump back and forth between me and her other friends to chat, I decided to just jump back a few spots and hang out there, because what's a couple of spaces when the line is ridiculous anyway.  Clearly I'm noting this because I was proven wrong later.

When our wait first started we were commenting about how surprised we were that it really didn't seem that cold out, which was a pleasant surprise.  However, about an hour later when we were still just waiting in a line outside, having made some progress towards the door, but not a ton, the feeling in our toes was starting to slip away.  That was when we started saying how smart the cookie food truck that had parked nearby was, because people all around us had run over to get cookies and hot cider from them.  However, we also noted that we really didn't want to have to go pay for it.  Thankfully the girls in front of us overheard and filled is on the deal, the cookies and cider were FREE!  So, so, so brilliant!  This was just the pick-me-up my group needed.

Yay for cookies and cider!!

So now I will tell you the funny story about the guy from the window who looked like John, but wasn't really John.  Periodically throughout our, ultimately, 2 hour outdoor wait this guy would come outside and kind of survey the line, sometimes he would also be on his cellphone.  Practically everyone, myself included, truly thought this guy was John.  And we all noted that we thought it was him, but he looked a little different than we thought he would.  For one, his hair was all spikey.  We just assumed it was John's way of changing things up for us DC folk.  I was so convinced it was John that I even tried to be stealth and grab a candid pic of him over my shoulder, as seen below (he turned around right as I took this).

Clearly my papparazzi career is a non-starter.

At this point we were so close to the door, yet still so far.  Luckily the FLOR staff were doing their best to keep a much larger than expected crowd happy, so they started handing out the popcorn that was inside to those of us still waiting in line outside.  An RSVP was supposed to be required for the event (it was free but they needed to cap the number of people), but it was clear that A LOT of people who hadn't RSVPed showed up anyway.  So props to the FLOR staff for making it work and doing your best to make the long wait as enjoyable as possible. 

Finally our wait was over!  Inside we went.  And this is where my jumping back in line a few spots comes into play.  John and Sherry had posted on YHL that if you come to one of their signings, it's helpful to the host if you purchase their book on site.  All the girls I had grouped with had seen that and planned to do just this.  So of course, the last book sold to the girl right in front of me, WHOMP WHOMP.  All was not lost though, John and Sherry had book plates with them to sign for anyone without a book (it's basically a big blank sticker they sign that you can put in the book later).  There was also wine once you got inside, which was delightful.

Popcorn and wine, what could be better?

Once inside we still had a little bit of a wait, but we slowly inched way through the line sipping our wine.  I should also note that it wasn't until we got within sight of the table John and Sherry were at that we all realized the spikey haired guy was not in fact John, embarrassing!  No wonder that guy seemed to be so weirded out by all of the girls staring and taking pictures of him outside. 

Then, after almost 2 1/2 hours in line I MET JOHN AND SHERRY!!!  Even though it was brief, there was still a long line of people behind us that had to get through, they were so cute and seemed so nice and genuine.  It was worth the wait I will say.

 

Yay!!!

Armed with my signed bookplates I rushed home to order the book off Amazon.  I was about to pull the trigger and complete my purchase when I glanced at the expected delivery time frame only to see that Amazon's expected ship date was 2 MONTHS from now!!!  What the what!?  Can't a girl get a break!  Thankfully I hopped over to Barnes and Noble online, which had the book in stock, and I now have 2 copies on their way to me.  Merry Christmas M!!!!



Are any of you also YHL fans?  Have you ever been as excited to meet a blogger in real life as I obviously was?