Kitchen Bulletin Board/Chalkboard

Our kitchen is a room that I struggle with a lot.  We are used to an open concept kitchen and this one...isn't.  However, one advantage to this is that there are a lot more walls than I am used to.  We are currently renting our house, as our move here is temporary, and on one of the walls there were three plain and faded bulletin boards.  I used these boards a lot to tack anything and everything to, but  I wanted something that looked a little bit nicer and made better use of the space.  I also found a can of chalkboard paint in the basement and I really wanted to try it out!  

So, off I went to my new favorite store (Lowes!) to buy some supplies.  I started with a 2.5' x 4' sheet of wood.  I recommend not buying the very cheapest wood possible here, as I did.  My goal was to make this as cheap as possible, but the wood that I bought warps a little bit and doesn't lay as flat against the wall as I would have liked.  I used this sheet of wood as the back to the entire thing and as the base for my chalkboard paint.  I first laid out the three sections that I was doing (2 bulletin and one chalkboard).  Then I primed the middle area and painted the chalkboard paint on top of that (as per the instructions on the paint can).  Since my primer was white, I also painted the edges of the big sheet of wood because I didn't want the wood color showing once I was finished putting the trim on.  

Next, I purchased enough trim to go all the way around the edges of the board.  It took two of the long pieces of trim from the store.  I opted for the trim that isn't really wood, it is made of some other material, but it is already white, so I didn't have to worry about painting it afterwards.  Since I don't have a mitre saw to cut the angles I needed to make the frame, I bought a $16 clamping mitre box set from Lowes as well.  I figured I would need this down the road for future projects, so it was worth the investment!  I also bought one length of very thin trim that I used to divide the sections of my bulletin boards and chalkboard.  Once my frame was cut out and the dividers were cut to size, I simply adhered them to the base with LOCTITE, an all purpose interior construction adhesive that dries clear. 

The last step was to put the cork in the two side sections.  I bought two packages of the cork tiles that Lowes sells and glued them down to the wood as well.  You can also find rolls of cork that probably would work as well, but I found them to be too thin for what I wanted, so I opted for the tiles. 

Then I bought two heavy duty frame hangers that you screw into the back of the board to hang it up.

Viola!  A beautiful kitchen "command centre" (as my sister-in-law calls it!).

Before:

After: