When your child reaches the age of bringing home a steady stream of drawings, paintings, and stickered masterpieces, you quickly realize you need more display space. We solved that by installing a large cork board wall with a clean framed look and plenty of room for gallery-worthy kid art.
Before the upgrade, our daughter called the small fabric-covered cork board in our office her “bell-etin board.” It had been useful, but it was getting crowded. Sherry suggested stretching the cork from window-to-window to create a larger, dedicated space for Clara’s (and eventually Teddy’s) artwork. The idea was to both increase display area and visually define that corner of the room as their creative workspace.
Creating a Base for the Cork Tiles
We began by installing a thin wooden backing to which the cork tiles would be glued. This backing keeps pushpins from piercing the drywall and creating a wall full of small holes over time. It also makes removing the whole installation far simpler — just a few screws to take out instead of a surface peppered with divots.
For the backing we used three 2′ x 4′ sheets of 5mm underlayment. Each sheet needed a slight trim to fit the 43″ gap between the windows; I clamped the panels together and cut them all at once with a circular saw for consistent edges.
Starting at the windowsill, I fastened each board to the studs with a few 2″ wood screws. We used a stud finder to ensure each screw held securely into framing.
We planned a subtle stepped-in look at the top, so the third board was cut to sit just below the window line. Sherry marked the cut location and I trimmed the board accordingly. We also cut two thin strips of wood to act as simple trim at the top and bottom, giving the installation a more finished edge.
Gluing the Cork Tiles to the Wall
With the backing in place, we began attaching cork tile squares. We used a spray adhesive recommended for bonding cork to wood. Instead of spraying indoors, I applied the adhesive to the back of each cork tile outside while Sherry brought them in to press into place. That approach worked well and kept fumes out of the room.
Tiling went quickly since most of the area used full squares and we worked as a team. We pressed all whole tiles into place first, then measured and trimmed edge pieces. Sherry marked cutlines with a pen and ruler, and we trimmed the tiles with scissors. Making short snips instead of long cuts helped prevent the cork from cracking and produced a neater edge.
Here’s the completed cork wall. While the seams are visible up close, we considered covering the surface with fabric or paint and ultimately decided to keep the natural cork. The texture and warm tone add visual interest to the room, and once artwork is pinned up the seams become much less noticeable.
Arranging Art on the Cork Wall
The moment we finished, Sherry raced to arrange Clara’s current collection of artwork, and Clara helped decide placement. She immediately embraced the space and started creating more pieces to pin up. We set a gentle rule: even with more room, new pieces will occasionally replace older ones, which gives Clara the fun task of choosing what to display and what to rotate out.
We keep a box of saved drawings, paintings, and crafts, and Sherry photographs favorites using an app called Artkive so we can eventually make a photo book of Clara’s work. It’s a simple way to preserve memories without needing to keep every single item on display.
Small personal touches — like the felt name banners a thoughtful reader sent as a big-sister gift — make the gallery feel special and hint that Clara will eventually share the space when Teddy’s older. One family favorite pinned to the wall is a winter portrait Clara drew of our growing family after learning she would soon have a baby brother. Seeing her embrace that change so quickly was meaningful to us.
We still use repurposed Campbell’s soup cans on the desktop to hold pencils and crayons — a little reminder of older projects that still work well. The rest of the office is a work in progress, and with a new baby in the house we’re taking our time finishing the double-desk setup. For now, Clara is our most productive office mate and loves her new display.
Update: We like to share follow-ups when something didn’t work out as expected. Read our original update about how we addressed a small curveball this cork wall created.
Note: This project was originally published in May 2014.