Let’s bring back those underrated memo boards that fill thrift store shelves. Walk into any thrift store and even new craft and decor stores and they look like they’re made to blend into the background, just a board to hold pictures, notes and anything in between without truly reflecting your personal style? A thrifty memo board is the perfect blank canvas waiting to be customized into something that feels uniquely yours. In this post, I’m going to share how I found a basic note board at a thrift store and DIY upgraded it by adding some colorful accessories that made it feel fresh and fun.
Why I love memo boards
I think everyone knows by now that I have a “normal” and “healthy” relationship with my local stores. I feel like these memo boards are everywhere. I suspect most of their travels are donations of graduate collage, or people who have taken most of their physical stationary notes and objects, living digitally all on our phones and computers. In a world of simplifying our lives with technology, I feel like I now have so many folders, pictures saved on 3 different platforms… it can be so overwhelming and disorganized. Going back a bit and more simply, I consider myself to be the worst out of sight, out of mind, and when it comes to files in folders on computers and phones, I will forget most everyday things. I’ve had great success with memo boards for keeping lists, notes, photos, and even using them as a mood board to pull together a space or standalone decor. The only bottoms of the mood boards that are straight off the shelf rarely fit into the atmosphere of the design.
Building a memo board
Most memo boards are constructed the same way. Cork board wrapped in fabric, diagonal criss-cross tape and buttons to give a shaggy look. There are so many options here from a complete deconstruction, changing the fabric to something completely your aesthetic. When you do this, try to carefully remove any staples that secure the fabric to the board so that you can use the removed fabric as a template, being careful how they fold over the corners and edges before you staple it in place. For the simplest way to improve this, most memo boards I see have a linen colored fabric or a neutral fabric, using these you can leave the wrapped fabric and just focus on the ribbon and buttons.
Deconstruction of the memo board
Start by removing the buttons using the pliers. most of the time the button head will come off but the pin part of the button will stay in place, that’s ok, we’ll install the dowel pins next to them and they’ll go over that. Also note, be careful with the fabric where the tools will come into contact, it may help to put a little buffer like a clean kitchen towel to help with the tool damaging or soiling the fabric.
Tape upgrade
The fastest upgrade is to keep the bar above the previous bar. It helps keep things aligned, and you’ll get the new tape so tight that you won’t notice the old tape underneath. Once the strip is all placed over the top, install new tacks starting in the center and moving outward toward the edge, pulling the fabric tight each time you install a new tack. Once all the clips are in place, pull and wrap the ribbon around the back of the board and clip it to secure.
If you choose a more transparent tape and the other tape is visible underneath, or the tape you want to use is thinner than the previous tape, you will want to mark one side of the tape, where it touches the edge of the memo board, this will serve as a reference point for your new tape. Once you’ve marked everything, cut and pull out the ribbon, being careful not to damage the fabric that wraps around the board. Then repeat the previous steps laying the ribbon according to your reference marks and installing new clips starting from the center outwards.
Finish it off with a frame
You can stop here or upgrade it a bit more with a frame. I have a bunch of old frames in my closet for projects like that, or prints and unframed art. You can usually find very affordable frames without artwork at antique shops and thrift stores. Also, I encourage people when shopping at these places to look past the artwork in the middle. So many people miss out on great prices on great frames because they don’t like the artwork, the artwork or print can be removed from the frame. We placed our memo board in the frame and secured it with very small screws and it was the perfect cherry on top.
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xxLizMarie