Ta-Da!

Remember this not-so-little "beauty"? My found treasure left behind by the previous owner of my house...

... nice detail though, and lots of potential.

I really debated what to do with the frame, but it came down to a cork board or a chalk board. Although a chalkboard would be really cute in this frame, I'm not sure I would get much use out of it... so I decided to go with cork. At first I was worried I wouldn't find a big enough piece of cork, but eventually I found a roll at the hardware store (oddly, the rolls I found at the craft stores weren't big enough!)

I started by cutting the paper backing off of the picture... by the way, there was a price tag on the picture... $130!! After removing the paper I found staples and staples and staples. I ended up pulling out 46 of them! Overkill.

I cleaned up the frame with some paper towels and light cleaner and started painting it (Parchment White, of course). I wanted to make sure to cover all the details without lots of globs of paint, so I used a sponge brush, then dry-brushed with a paint brush, which meant the paint dried faster, but it was pretty thin, so I ended up doing about 3 coats, I think.

Meanwhile, I cut a piece of cork to match the size of the picture. The mats and picture were all glued together, otherwise I would've tried to salvage and reuse the large mat. I glued the cork to the back of the mat, put it all back together, and used a staple gun to staple it in place... using far fewer staples this time.

Here's a shot of the detail now... Much, much better, yes?

... and here is the finished product!

I hung it in the living room, just to take the picture, but it will be going into my newly remodeled office/craft room (which is far from being furnished and decorated), but I just couldn't bear to pound a nail into the wall yet (check that out here and here).

Anyway, I'm happy with the finished product! I think it's probably the prettiest cork board I've ever had. Woohoo!

What do you think?

I am tickled pink to be linking up again with DIY Day @ A Soft Place to Land! Please go check out all the amazing projects over there! I look forward to DIY Day every week!