Affordable Office Decor & DIY Cork Board

Greetings all! So alas I put some colorful decor up in my work office. My bland, rectangular, windowless office was in desperate need of character and if you're like me and spend most of your day cooped up in an office, you want anything for a little excitement. You should treat your office space like your home by adding personality and style. You don't have to spend dollars and dollars on it either. Just a few simple touches and I guarantee you wouldn't mind coming into your office on that dreaded Monday morning.

As usual, affordable decor was my approach and I was able to accomplish my simple decor scheme with just under $12!

I've been itching to do another easy DIY project and thought that adding some life to a cork board  would suffice. As I'm sure you all know, ikat and chevron patterns are all the rage right now and I thought either pattern would bring life to the boring cork board. But I did say I wanted to do an EASY DIY project and thought the ikat pattern would leave paint smudges everywhere with a frustrated me trying to perfect the layered rigid pattern. So chevron it was. {DIY info near the end of this post} 

Since I've been viewing interior design blogs, I've seen this KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON poster in almost all of my favorite blog sites. They now come in several colors and different font styles. My crazy work and home schedule has me in a constant frenzied state so I thought this would be perfect to hang in a conspicuous area for all to see and is a perfect reminder for me to stay calm during my hustle and bustle hours.

Online this poster was about $6 but with shipping and handling and tax and whatever other charge come along with a sale transaction it was going to cost me $15 for just the poster. Now call me a penny pincher but I refused to spend $15 for just paper. And then I had my DUH moment and realized I could utilize the copy center department at work. So I asked and I sure did receive..the same day! I already had a frame that fit just right and voila!{FUN FACT: Keep Calm and Carry On was a propaganda poster printed in 1939 around the beginning of the second world war. The British Government produced it with intentions of raising morale in the event of an invasion}

These are amazing. These were only $3 each at SCRAP, a local creative reuse warehouse where I also purchased the cork board. They were in perfect condition and ready to hang! I don't know who the artist is or what the origin of these fantastic paper cutouts but they're perfect for adding color and interest in my office.
UPCLOSE:
Do you recall my WALL PAPER COLLAGE post? So I came across quite a few of my own flyer's that I've collected over the years and decided to create my own collage.

A closer look at my favorites

Brilliant wording! Someone stopped and handed us a bunch of funky stickers with fun and clever wording. This one was a keeper.

Salvador Dali: The Persistance of Memory. 1931 
A post card to my hubby from a family member.

This was handmade by my hubby's cousin who has an impressive artistic hand. He created several of these and sent them to the family as Valentine's day cards. So original and worth keeping!

DIY Cork Board:

Cork boards can run you anywhere from $10-$50 depending on the size and frame style. As mentioned I purchased this at SCRAP. This is a 36 x 24 cork board for just $3! The acrylic paint cost me .89¢! I already had paint brushes and painters tape. The remaining accessories used to fill my shelves were from home. 

Minimal prep work was needed. Because cork already has a rough surface there was no need to sand it. Prep consisted of wiping and drying the board then onto taping. 

I've seen other DIY chevron tutorials cut out a V shaped template for the perfect chevron pattern, but I decided to eyeball it; choose your battles I guess. I started off taping the board with a herringbone pattern and realized it wasn't the look I was going for. Instead, I divided the length of the board into four even sections marking it with a pencil. The center line was where each end of the chevron met. You can design your chevron at any angle you want. Once I created my first chevron, I eyeballed the rest of my tape paint until I felt it was covered enough. {Kind of looks like a stretched out M}

Ready to paint; there is no technique needed just paint away!

Total labor was 1 hour (sorry for the blur)

And there you have it..a few office decor accessories that cost me just under $12! The DIY cork board brought instant style and color to my office and the best part again is that it was unbelievably cheap!
Another great example of affordable design by using what you have and utilizing your resources. ~MG