It's Surprisingly Easy to Turn a Whole Wall into a Corkboard

Why settle for a bulletin board when you could have a bulletin wall? Available in tiles or rolls, cork transforms a blank wall (or half-wall) into an art gallery, souvenir display, photo collage, or anything else your kids dream up. Don't believe us? Take it from an expert: Designer Anne Hepfer covered her 9-year-old son's room in 1/4-inch cork.

"Kids love to decorate their walls," she tells House Beautiful. "What kid doesn’t love it? I have four, and this was for my one kid who is always taping stuff to his wall. He said, 'Mommy, I want a giant bulletin board in my room.' And I said, 'Okay, what if we did the entire room cork, like wallpaper?' He said, 'Oh, that would be my dream.'"

So they did, and his walls became an ever-evolving expression of his tastes and memories. "It’s everything from maps to posters of the prime ministers," Hepfer says.

Sold? Here's what to know about installing your own.

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Consider your backing.

Depending on the thickness of your cork (more on that later), you may want to consider installing a plywood backing, so push pins don't make marks on the wall behind the cork, like the bloggers behind Young House Love did here. If you're going for thicker cork—or think it's unlikely you'll ever take it down—you can skip this step.

Decide on your cork.

The material comes in thinner rolls and thicker squares, which are often meant for flooring. For a smaller, square space, the thick tiles may work, but for larger spaces, the rolls are your best bet.

Thickness matters.

Before you buy cork, consider how thick it is—and how thick your crown molding is, if you have it. Hepfer settled on quarter inch because, "if we went thicker, you’d have a gap between the crown molding and the wall," she explains.

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Anne Hepfer’s son’s room.

Invest in the install.

While there are rolls out there with adhesive backing, for a long-term solution you're probably better off installing the cork with a strong adhesive glue. And for a large-scale install like Hepfer's, it might be worth hiring a professional. "It's tricky to cut to size," the designer explains.

It doesn't have to be brown!

Though we love the natural look of cork, there are options if it doesn't jive with your decor. "I think you could paint on it if you wanted to change the color," Hepfer says. After all, she points out, "I’ve painted on grasscloth."

Go crazy with pins.

After the install comes the fun part: pinning up whatever you desire. There are tons of adorable pin options out there, so go wild for a fun, personal wall.