Hirondelle Rustique: DIY Bulletin Board

A few months ago while taking out the trash, I happened to notice that someone threw out a gigantic picture frame, artwork and all. It was just leaning up against the trash bin and the frame looked like it was in pretty good shape, so I nabbed it.

I accidentally deleted my before shot, so this will have to do. The artwork and orange mat board had been rained on. It's a shame, since it was quite a pretty cityscape print, but I suppose it wouldn't have matched my decor anyways. The frame was the diamond in the rough though, measuring in at 45.5 in x 31.5 in and with only a few small nicks and scratches. You can easily find frames at garage sales and thrift stores too.

While shopping at a local thrift store with my mom, we spotted a HUGE bulletin board shoved behind some old headboards. I wrestled it out and checked the price... $5! I'll take it! We then stopped by the fabric store and I bought 1 yard of linen fabric for $9.

I laid the picture frame on top of the bulletin board and used it as my template, tracing around the inside so I could later cut out the cork. I made sure to cut slightly on the outer edge of my traced lines so that the piece wouldn't fall through the frame.

Next, I sanded and painted the frame a nice, crisp white using leftover paint.

While the paint was drying, I brought my bulletin board piece in to cover with a linen fabric. I used a staple gun to attach one side of the fabric to the back of the cork, and then pulled taught on the opposite end and stapled again, much like you would when stretching your own art canvas. It helps if you have a second person working with you to make sure the fabric is pulled tight. I slowly worked my way around until all the sides were stapled.

I folded the corners in and trimmed where needed to leave the backside looking nice and tidy.

Once that was finished it was time to put the whole thing together! I added self-leveling hangers (got them for $1) on the back in case I ever decide I want to hang it up.