I’ve been getting a lot of questions about our family cork wall, so I want to share about it here so you can do it too.  It’s super easy and full of possibilities.  I’ve wanted a cork wall for years, ever since I saw one at my friend Sari’s house.  I grew up with a huge cork board above my bed growing up and it was always a meaningful reflection of my life through the years and what was important to me.  I am so thrilled to have one now to document what’s happening in our family life.

Right now my girls, ages 5 and 6 are way into drawing (for the first time ever!), Cyndi Lauper (that blue mixed media painting is Gigi’s interpretation of Cyndi) and black calligraphy ink for painting (inspired by these incredible self portraits.)

Didi, my 5 year old sat herself down in front of the cork board wall the other day and started drawing Charley Harper foxes on little index cards.  I have spent years trying to get my girls into drawing.  We’ve done tons of observational drawing activities, but they just weren’t that into it unless I was sitting with them.  Well, the tides have turned.  Hallelujah! These girls now love to draw and can just sit and make mermaid drawings for an hour on their own.

I’m not sure where the shift happened, but it did.  I attribute some of it to my girls getting a bit older, but also to the fact that we don’t watch tv during the week anymore and that has really boosted the play and creativity around here.

What you will need to make a cork wall…

Anyway, back to the cork wall.  All you have to do is order a 3/8 cork roll.  We used a cork roll that is thick so you can put a pin in without it reaching the wall.  I didn’t want to do any backing on the cork or anything complicated so ordering thick cork like this is key. Also, I didn’t want all the seems of the squares so we got cork on a roll. Once the cork arrived, our super duper handy man installed it in our kitchen using Engineered Glue Adhesive.  He basically slathered the glue all over the wall and then stuck the cork on top of it in two large strips.  The seem is important.  You don’t want any gaps at the seem so be careful to line it up really carefully.

Since I didn’t put the cork wall up myself I don’t have too much advice in that department.  It seemed to go really smoothly though and was ready for pinning by the end of the day. The wall was kind of full in a matter of 4.0 seconds.

Our whole family loves our cork wall. I can tell it’s going to have many chapters and definitely take on a life of it’s own.  My husband, who was worried the cork wall was going to look too busy, is totally in love with it.  It’s really functional and the perfect place to rotate all the art that comes home from school.  Everyone in the Cherry clan gives it the big thumbs up.

**I can’t wait to share a special project I’m working on for our wall.  It’s going to make our lives (and yours) waaaay more organized.  Stay tuned and thanks for reading along. xo, Meri