Reduce, Reuse...Make That Old Corkboard Fabulous

I love Young House Love. LOVE it. I think John, Sherry, Clara and Burger are just about the cutest family ever. I also love their design aesthetic, their creativity, and how they stretch a buck. They totally inspire me to go through piles at Goodwill to find a diamond in the rough, or head over to Michael's clearance aisle to see what I can do with scrapbook paper, a vase and fake flowers. I had an homage to YHL in the past with my Halloween decor, and I thought I'd share my recent triumph with giving new life to old junk.

I've had a corkboard lying around for years. Literally. It had not been in use since the year after college where it served as a photo holder of the good ol' days (that had just happened 6 months before...). I never got rid of it, thinking I'd be able to find a use for it. After we moved into our house last March, I had an Oprah a-ha moment - the corkboard would be a jewelry display board. Oh yes.

So I took the sample of paint I had from when we painted our bedroom and painted the corkboard within an inch of its life - really, probably about 5 coats. The color is Benjamin Moore's Coventry Gray, if you were curious.

I purchased a box of 40 cup hooks at Home Depot.

And then it continued to sit in our basement until last week. Finally, I decided to get my act together and finish what I barely started.

Project Budget:

Corkboard - FREE and in need of a purpose

Leftover paint from sample - FREE (but I did pay $3 for it when we painted our bedroom)

Box o' hooks - $2.19

Patience from my husband for a project that took months when it should have taken an hour - priceless

TOTAL: $5.19

The finished product:

While I wanted to paint the wood frame white to set it off against our dark blue walls and to match the hooks, I ran out of patience (hey, I'm 39 weeks pregnant). But overall, I'm pretty pleased. My necklaces aren't getting tangled any more and it's doing double duty as a piece of functional wall art.

Anyone else have some fun DIY projects in the works? Can I get a "heck yeah!" for YHL?