New message board...

...or more honestly, a new place to hang my grandbabies pictures! Regardless, it's there in case I decide to write messages or tack up important things, etc.
I really wanted something cute yet functional to hang in my desk area. I say "area" because it's the corner of the dining room instead of an office, but it works well and keeps me in the middle of everything.
When we recently worked on my granddaughter's bedroom, we replaced this adorable picture.

We bought it when it was more of a nursery, not a growing 3 year old's room. I loved the frame, it was already the color I wanted and "beaten up" a bit. Some people call this look Shabby Chic. I just know I like it.

So, I began by taking off the board and spray painting it with chalkboard spray paint. After several coats of that, I placed it back into the frame and cut some cork tiles (from Michaels)the size that I wanted them and stuck them on with double stick pads that came with the cork. You can always glue it but I wasn't sure if that would be a problem with the push pins.

Then to help with the transition between the cork and the chalkboard I hot glued some black rope cording.

I added another ribbon to the bottom of the cork to cover a seam where I had two pieces come together. I started to paint the "messages" word but that didn't go so well. It just didn't look neat enough so I just printed out a sign on heavy weight paper and I think it does the trick.
I encourage you to look at picture frames this way. Before you ever consider getting rid of one because it isn't the right color or you don't like the picture inside, see all of the possibilities that it could become!