A "Useful, Beautiful or Both...or So I Think" Bulletin Board

Okay gang, here goes nothing. I like to decorate and entertain have been told that maybe I'm a little good at it. Needless to say, I have been thrilled to have found some great blogs by some really talented and clever ladies. One that I started reading in the last few weeks is "The Peterson's go Public" (see sidebar for link). Jennifer P. is an interior designer and has such creative flair. (She changes up all the fonts in her posts. I copied her. I admit it. I have no shame about it either.) Two weeks ago, she put up a post about having items in your home that are only "Useful, Beautiful or Both." She then put out the challenge to have her readers do the same. Of course, it got me thinking about what I possess that I think of as useful and beautiful. So, I have spent the last two weeks pulling together my version of items that are what I call "Useful, Beautiful, or Both...or So I Think." Unlike Jennifer who was succinct in her single post, I have to spread this over the next five days. I couldn't copy her completely. I already stole the font idea. Oh of course, I will interrupt for breaking news for things as important as telling you that Kyle lost his first tooth last Thursday. But that will have to wait, because right now I want to talk about fridge clutter.

I don't want to offend anyone but fridge clutter, mmm, not so pretty:



Clean fridge, now that's pretty!



I will confess that, I too, was guilty of having a fridge full of clutter. Then one day about two years ago, I realized that, as you walk into my kitchen, the first thing you noticed (not saw) noticed (big difference) was my fridge with all the, let's be honest here, crap on it. (I hate that word, but there isn't any other way to describe it.) I just wanted to throw it all away, until I noticed that the wall perpendicular to the fridge was screaming for a bulletin board. No, not one of those Costco kind....one of those "Useful, Beautiful, or Both...or So I Think" kind. You know, the ones that are $200 in the Ballard catalogue. So what did I do? I decided to make one. I dug up some leftover fabric I had from the curtains I made in the kitchen, bought a large piece of cork from Home Depot and a frame of my liking at Aaron Brothers (on sale). I wrapped the material around the cork like a present and used my staple gun to affix it to the cork. I then glued the fabric covered cork to the back rim of the frame. To reinforce it, I nailed/glued (I can't remember) foam board to the back of the cork. I then attached "D" rings and picture wire....AND....

Voila, I had a "Useful, Beautiful, or Both...or So I Think" bulletin board.



Now a bulletin board this pretty can't have just any ole push pin. So I did splurge for these fleur-de-lis ones from Ballard...had to order something from that place to keep getting the catalogue.



So, there you have it. My first ""Useful, Beautiful, or Both...or So I Think" item.