DIY Pinboard | Painted Herringbone

Continuing with Robin’s room, here’s an easy project that is both decorative and functional. A pinboard is not only a great way to display your child’s artwork – it’s a spot for items of importance like photos, party invitations, souvenirs and mementos.

By: Kimberly

And doing-it-yourself means that you can use any colours or patterns that your heart (or little one’s heart) desires!  It’s an easy way to add more colour to a room or to tie together your colour scheme. Because Robin’s wall are a a very pale pink (Benjamin Moore’s Opal), I have been incorporating shades of grey and blue to tone it down, as well as other pops of colour. For the pinboard, I decided to go with a herringbone pattern and I used leftover grey paint from the hanging shelf, along with white paint that I already had kicking around the house.

Materials:

• four 12×12 cork boards (purchased at Dollarama for $4)
• tape (I used washi tape, also purchased at Dollarama for $2)
• Paint (I used leftover white craft paint and leftover Benjamin Moore paint in Wedgewood Gray)
• Ruler or measuring tape

Step 1: Using a ruler or measuring tape, divide the board into 4 equal sections by placing strips of tape vertically down the board. Because my board is 12 inches wide, these strips were placed at 3, 6 and 9-inches across.

Step 2: Place smaller strips of tape horizontally to create herringbone pattern. I measured 1.5 inches from the bottom of the first piece of tape, made a mark with a marker, and that was the starting point for the next piece of tape. That was the only measurement I made for placing the tape, otherwise I “eyeballed” it. I’m not a perfectionist when it comes to projects like this. After completing the first row, I used that as the base to complete the other rows. I lined up the tape and tried to match the angle as best I could.

Step 3: Because I was not totally sure of how this was going to work/look, I decided to go ahead and paint the first board before completing the other 3 boards. I started with the grey colour and painted every other “box”. I then did the same with the white paint. It needed about an hour to dry before I was able to pull the tape off.

Step 4: Once I confirmed that my technique had worked, I completed taping the other 3 boards by, you guessed it, matching the tape and eye-balling it for consistency.

Step 5: Once the taping of the other boards was complete, I then painted the “boxes” starting with grey and finishing with white. The completed board was my starting point and I matched the pattern on the remaining boards based on it. I gave them about an hour to dry and then removed the tape. I was worried that if the tape was left on too long, it might be difficult to remove so I didn’t want to leave it overnight. And it was a good feeling to go to bed having the boards completed and ready to hang!

Step 6: I used double-sided mounting squares to hang the boards on the wall. This works well as they need to lie flat.

And what would I do without my little helper cheering me on?

Are you curious to see the rest of Robin’s room? Stay tuned…