Somebody put a cork in us, because we’re done with our latest swift and simple DIY project. We wanted to create a convenient little bulletin board in the kitchen to keep favorite recipes and meal ideas on hand (and on our mind- anything in a recipe book is so far out of sight that it’s immediately forgotten). But we also didn’t want our collection of clippings to clutter things up in the kitchen.
Our solution? A hidden pin board that we created in around ten minutes for under $5. And all we needed were a four-pack of cork tiles from Target (snagged for less than 5 clams) and a bunch of push pins (which we already had in our junk drawer). The cork tiles came with little self adhesive squares for easy hanging, so the entire process was fast and furious.
Here’s what we started with: a blank interior door, a pile of cork squares, and a stack of recipes and easy make ahead meals that we’re constantly forgetting about:
In minutes I had my first tile up on the door. Other than making sure that the cork square was super straight before sticking it on, this step was no sweat.
I decided I wanted a bit of space between the tiles, and determined just by holding them up that three squares would fit perfectly on the door with a little breathing room between ’em. Houston, we have a pin board.
Then I just got to work pinning up all of the forgotten recipes, meal ideas, and food related paraphernalia that we used to collect and neglect. Finally they have a proper place right in front of my face.
The result is an inspiration board of meal ideas and recipes that remind us of their presence every time we reach for the spices or the olive oil. I even see it in the morning when I’m making oatmeal so I have time to think about what we could have for dinner waaay ahead of time, which is actually a novel idea (no more forgetting to defrost things). And it’s also a great place to pin shopping lists or grocery store coupons so they’re all in one spot.
We even toyed with the idea of painting the inside of the opposite cabinet with chalkboard paint to create a message center for jotting down notes, reminders, and even shopping lists- but we actually wondered if the fumes from the paint were the best idea in such a contained space full of food (maybe there’s no VOC chalkboard paint, which would definitely make us reconsider).
But even without the chalkboard, you gotta love that the whole cork square project was easy, efficient, and super inexpensive. Plus it can be adapted to display anything from chore lists for your kids to extracurricular schedules that usually clutter up your fridge. Kitchen organization never tasted so good!
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