DIY Southwestern Cork Board Wall Art

A fun and easy craft to spruce up a boring wall.

I have had another fun crafty time this week-end. Actually, I did two crafts {the other one to be posted next week, probably}. You can check out a preview on my Instagram. This crafting thing is kind of addicting!

I have a really huge art project planned to hang over our fireplace. I have my canvas and paints all lined up and ready but I chickened out. I decided to do this, a less intimidating art project. It ended up being really fun!

Have I ever mentioned that I have an orange kitchen? Well. I have an orange kitchen.

And not just some hint-of-0range kitchen. An orange! kitchen.

It is not a color that I picked, it came with the house. To be honest, it's not my taste, but it has grown on me. It is bright and happy. When I get up in the morning, before my coffee, my bright orange walls greet me with a happy hello!

On to this cork board project.  Since the kitchen has a bit of a southwestern vibe going on, I decided to decorate my cork boards in a southwestern sort of theme. Geometric shapes, chevrons, arrows...you get the picture. I went pretty neutral in colors to blend in with my orange! walls.

Cost of this project:

• 2 X 3-pack of ikea cork boards {$8}
• paintbrush {$2}
• painters tape {$4}
• black & white acrylic paint {$5}
• picture hanging strips {$5}

Total: $24*

*but you probably have some of these items already!

Time:  around 2 hours to tape, paint and allow to dry.

The project is pretty self explanatory:

• Tape the cork boards.
• Paint the cork boards.
• Dry. Remove tape.
• We hung them using 'velcro' picture hanging strips {so we didn't have to use 6 nails!}

Helpful tips:

• Press tape down firmly to prevent bleeding
• Don't put too much water in your paint {also prevents bleeding}
• Use a ruler to figure out where the 'center' of the board is.
• But don't sweat the whole symmetry thing too much! It was much more fun when I put the ruler away and just went with the flow {and adjusted the tape by eye}

{Before}  The car painting was purchased at a flea market in Havana when we were there in 2012. It was hanging in the kitchen because...there was a random nail there. Don't worry! It has a happy new home in the living room, where it's lovely blues and whites are perfect.

{After} I think the orange walls and the new southwestern cork art go together a little better. But if I ever decide to move my cork art...we didn't make any holes in the wall, thanks to these picture hanger strips.