Painted Chevron Cork Board

Living in NYC means that every inch of space gets used - even the walls! Inside, like outside, we tend to build up rather than out to get the most out of the space we have. Instead of a full office, or even a converted closet like the one featured here, I have a corner of our living room next to a window. My desk goes up pretty high and serves as my home office, crafting space and storage. Even though it's a small space, it's important to me that the area reflect my aesthetic and personality. I'm still working on putting it all together a little bit at a time, but, this past weekend, I had the opportunity to purchase a cork board that is just the right space for the wall behind my computer. I snatched it up since it was the perfect size, but since it didn't really match the look of my space, I went to work! To replicate this project, here's what you'll need:

• cork board
• tape (masking, painting or scotch will work)
• a measuring tape
• a pencil
• sandpaper
• foam paint brush
• acrylic paint in the color(s) of your choice

You could definitely do this freehand, but I wanted a little more precision (and don't trust myself at all to just eyeball it). So I started by making a grid. Use the measuring tape to find the vertical and horizontal centers of the board, and lightly draw a line down them with the pencil. Then, I went an extra step and created evenly spaced horizontal rows by finding the center of the top half and bottom half and lightly drawing lines down them. Then I repeated the process again, finishing with one vertical and seven horizontal lines. Then, let the taping begin!
 
This is where it will help if you have painters tape or making tape that is the width you'd like the lines. Unfortunately, there was a snow storm outside, and I didn't have enough painters tape. I used scotch tape and just doubled the width of the tape for every line to make sure it was the width I wanted. At this point, if your frame is not going to be the same color as your design, you'll also want to tape off the frame.

Mix the color(s) of acrylic paint to your liking. I wanted a very light blue grey for my space that is similar to my logo design, but I didn't have the exact color I wanted, so I mixed a light blue, a light grey and a white.

Then go to work painting your design. This was really the fun part for me. The taping was the work to get to the fun part.

I just did one coat. If you're very concerned about even color, you might want to use two coats. Remove the tape. Then, I painted the frame. I just went carefully since I didn't want to tape over the freshly painted design, and voila - a personalized cork board for my "home office."