Window Bulletin Board - tutorial

I saw a great idea a while ago. Fabulous idea. Someone took an old french door, popped the glass out, and put cork board in the panes for a great looking bulletin board.

I don't have an old french door, but I do have wood frame windows that we (meaning my handy husband) took out of our house, circa 1939. Vinyl windows don't have the charm, but I love vinyl because I can't feel the wind whistle through them and they don't collect mold and condensation. My husband was going to throw out the wood windows and I cried out! I knew I could come up with something to do with them.


You can see the potential, right?

The windows were piled behind the garage and were so gross and moldy. It was pouring down rain when I quickly snatched one from the pile. I brought it in and me and the girls scrubbed it clean. Then, I busted the glass out. That was super fun. This process made a huge mess, but I had it cleaned up by noon when Jeff came in for lunch and said, "What have you guys been up to this morning." I explained my idea and he gave me one of his I-adore-you-so-I-will-humor-your-nutty-idea looks.

After a good sanding, the frame was ready for primer. I like Kilz. Especially since there were spots that still held a tinge of green from the mold. Kilz covers anything.

Emma loves, love, loves to paint. I rather grudgingly let her help me. Doing crafts with kids required more patience than I wanted to extend, but I let her help. She said, "Thanks for letting me help you, mom." She is always so quiet and doesn't share her thoughts often. It's moments like these that I realize that I am shaping my child's memories. Emma will remember that I let her paint. Not that I made her watch because I wanted it to be perfect.

I had a hard time deciding what color to paint my window bulletin board. I knew I wanted to put it in my white and blue kitchen. White would be logical, but kinda boring. I have a great dark blue paint that I could have used. Or I had this red that makes my soul sing. I went with red. It is usually best to go with the way your soul is leaning.

I put on 3 coats of red and then did a bit of distressing with black. I had NO idea what I was doing as I smeared black paint on and then waited 4 and a half seconds and then wiped it off. I just wanted it took look less freshly painted and more worn. My husband came to see my progress and gave me a I-adore-you-so-I-will-humor-your-nutty-ideas look. I love that man. Mr. Practical can't fathom why I would distress something I just freshly painted.

When I was done painting and "distressing," I was ready to assemble my bulletin board. I bought cork board at Staples in 12" square sheets. They were 4 for $5 on sale. I shopped around for the best deal, but often the bulletin boards were the wrong size to get enough rectangles for my project.

I cut out the size I needed. Or rather, I had my scissors cut out the size I needed. What a dumb picture. When I saw this picture, I laughed. Seriously, do you have scissors that work without any help? Please never underestimate how difficult it is to take pictures for a tutorial. If someone knows of a tutorial on taking tutorial photographs, please leave me the link. I obviously need some guidance.

I used good old elmer's glue and added the cork board to the back side of the window.

It was a little flimsier than I wanted, so I added card board to the back of the cork.

I'm feeling so "green" right about now. Recycled window, recycled cork, recycled cardboard ... from a box of disposable diapers. And there is where my "green" train fall off the tracks.

The books smooshed flat the cork/cardboard sandwich.

I let it dry for a bit and then checked out my creation.

Ooh, I like. The wreath needs to go. It has been hanging in that exact spot for nearly 8 years. I didn't realize it was screaming "1992" until I saw this picture. But I like the bulletin board. And I love the red.

A quick craft project was to glue buttons to plain ol' thumb tacks. I put my children's names in three of the window panes to hold reminders specific to them. The top left area is for reminders of events and invitations. We're looking forward to my cousin Phil's wedding in April. I was privileged to design the invitation.

I'm glad it's done. It wasn't the fastest or easiest project, but I think it will be really practical for organizing as well as snazzy. Need a window to do one yourself? I have stash I am willing to share. :)