Wowzer! It’s a dead-mirror corkboard tutorial

Hello Chums. What do you do when your clumsy brother knocks your precious bathroom mirror (salvaged from grandma’s old dressing table) onto the floor so it looks like this?:

Well, after some silent cursing and relishing in his seven years bad luck, if you’re me you’ll decide to make the back piece into a corkboard (inspired by this tutorial at Freshvintage) and save the mirror for a mosaic (that you’ll probably never make, but hey!)

First off, you need to remove any existing hardware from your wood.

Then, If you happen to have some lovely cork tiles, you can attach these to your wood. I don’t, and I’m too skinflinty to buy some. So if you’re like me, you’re gonna use trusty corrugated cardboard.

I cut two pieces the same size as the board (because I wanted it thick)…

…and spread wood glue like crazy to stick them to the face of the board.

When I had stuck both pieces I turned the board face down and put lots of heavy things on top until it had dried.

When I got bored waiting for it to dry (approximately half an hour) I checked it was stuck, and lo, it was. I grabbed a piece of sandpaper and made sure the edges were level with the edge of the board.

Then, (and you can skip this part if you don’t want it to look a little bit like a headboard) I wanted it to be rounded and a little puffy so I took an old piece of batting and stapled it to the board, overlapping the sides.

I used an old duvet cover for my fabric, but I’m sure you can all find something equally thrifty :) I cut a piece that was at least six inches bigger than the board. I then turned the whole thing face down on the floor, with the fabric underneath.

This bit is fairly important.

You need to staple the top first, all the way across, folding the edges under. Then do the bottom, making sure you pull the fabric as you are going, starting at the middle. Do the same for the sides, always starting in the middle, always pulling the fabric slightly. This way, you get no ugly creases on your corkboard and the fabric is taut. Remember to fold the corners neatly!

The back is a bit messy, I know, but then who’s going to see that? It’s worth noting that I used long staples but I left a few millimetres sticking out, in case I ever want to change the fabric, and pliers need to be my friend.

I then ran a piece of binding tape around the whole edge, stapling one end then pulling it tight around the whole thing and stapling it to finish. You could use glue, but I’m too messy for that sort of thing, it would get everywhere!

Because I left the staples sticking out a little bit, I was able to attach some ribbon to the top to hang it up

 

Pin on your inspirations and you’re done! Not so much like a headboard now, eh? Come to think of it, this is probably exactly the way I would also cover a headboard!

The eagle eyed amongst you will have noticed the pins are little buttons. Well, that was as easy as sewing thread through the holes and attaching them to drawing pins with strong glue. Cute huh? I think so :)

      

Beccy