Easy Wall Art Ideas | Chapter One: Painted Cork Board

I took a little break last week because I was working on a series of posts that I’m calling “Easy Wall Art Ideas”. While designing some spaces for friends I realized that one of the biggest challenges we all face is what to put on our walls. It’s hard to come up with ideas, find the right artwork, and not spend a lot of money. So I’ve come up with a bunch of great ideas that require very little skill, time or money. Stay tuned! I’ll be starting the series off with Chapter One: Painted Cork Board. You might not consider cork boards to be artwork but once you follow these instructions, you’ll want to hang it proudly. Plus it’s useful!

Cork boards are a great solution for kids rooms, an office space, kitchen, or family command center. But a lot of them can be very plain and boring or they can be fancy and expensive. I made this one for a teenager’s bedroom and it really adds a sophisticated, but fun element to the room. And he can add any personal items to make it more unique.

Here are the steps to create your own unique painted cork board, aka artwork.

I found this very simple, 22″ x 34″ wood-framed cork board at Michael’s. I’ve also seen them at many office supply stores.

Then I picked out three different colors of multi-surface craft paint: white, denim blue and burnt orange. This is the color palette for the bedroom.

I wanted to keep the design simple so I decided to paint stripes across the board. You could really do any simple geometric pattern: abstract triangles, diagonal stripes, diamonds – the painter’s tape makes plotting your pattern super easy. I made my stripes each a different height to add a little more interest. Be sure to use a ruler and pencil so the stripes are even. Secure the tape firmly onto the cork board. I wanted my stripes to continue onto the frame so I wrapped the tape around to the back. Be creative with your shapes!

Next I painted each stripe with two coats of paint.

When the paint was dry, I removed the tape and touched up any areas that needed it. The cork is very absorbent and the paint stayed along the tape lines nicely.

Cork boards usually come with two predrilled holes for hanging. But I wanted a more unique solution, so I decided to use eye bolts on each end of the board and hang it with twine from a single hook. To attach the eye bolts, I used my drill to start a hole and then screwed the eye bolts each in by hand. Pliers helped secure them tightly. I used regular twine cut to the length I wanted for hanging.

Then I attached a hook to the wall with anchors and screws and hung the twine from the hook. I also use 3M Foam Mounting Tape to hold all my artwork in place.

I hope you enjoyed this first-of-several posts on Easy Wall Art Ideas. Adding meaningful and purposeful artwork to our homes may seem a little trivial to some, but I think it can actually have a big impact on our lives. If we surround ourselves with a positive and creative environment, it can help us to be happier and more comfortable in our homes and our daily lives.

I’ll be doing this series for the next few weeks so stay tuned – I have a lot more ideas that will hopefully help you find some fun solutions for your walls! Please send along your comments – I would love to know what you think. And if you like any ideas, Pin them or follow me on Facebook or Instagram. Enjoy!!