On My Pantry Shelf . . .

I have discovered that being a mom to three little ones, a wife to a teacher and a coach, and a tutor and trainer myself leaves very little room in my brain for anything else. There are days when I feel like my brain is running through congealed oatmeal. Not efficient to say the least! I lose my keys daily, I forget to turn off the coffee pot, and just Monday I left my keys in the car with the radio turned on and consequently drained my battery dry. Yep, that's me! That's my existence. I am happy, tired, and usually forgetful.

Blame it on my 8 years of sleep deprivation.

Anyway, in my quest to keep (and remember) all of my ideas for this OLD house, I started an idea file. Any time I saw anything that I love, love, loved and wanted to use to decorate or remodel my house, I would promptly rip out the picture from the magazine or catalog, and put it in my red idea folder. Amazingly, this has worked!

Recently, I found this bulletin board gem in a Grandin Road catalog page in my idea file. I had completely forgotten about it until that moment, but when I saw it, I knew that I would try it for my newly built walk-in pantry. (More pics of that to come soon!)

Cute right? A bulletin board with a damask print design. Unique. Useful. But still . . . stylish! Perfect!

That is . . . perfect . . . until I saw the price tag.

Hold on. Get ready for it.

$139.00.

No. I am not joking.

I was completed floored that Grandin Road wanted to charge $139.00 for what amounted to some paint and your garden variety bulletin board. So, I decided to try my DIY skills to replicate a similar Annie-fied version.

First, I found a bulletin board at a garage sale. Price? $1.00.

Then, I found a unique design that I wanted for the cork part of the board. I went with a Fleur

de Lis shape from Hobby Lobby that I got on sale for $4.00.

I traced the shape on the board. And, then I painted it with some leftover paint from my dining room shelf project.

And, voila!

A $5.00 version of the Grandin Road bulletin board to rest atop my new pantry shelves. I am tickled! I think that I will let hubby know that I just saved him $134.00. (Did I mention that I am gifted in creative financial rationalization?)

What do you think? I am love, love, loving it!

****This post is part of Kimba's DIY Thursday. Hop on over and check it out.