DIY Wood Clipboard – Simply Styled Inspo

Designing a workspace calls for an atmosphere that will be clean, tidy and organized. For the Calgary Home & Garden Show project I’m designing, I want to create a space that is clear of clutter and distractions since the area is being used by several different workshops. So my goal is to integrate serene vibes mixed with practicality and functionality. Being that the Home Show workspace is set up in a temporary booth, I have to get creative with the feature walls and all the limitations that come with working in such an environment. I immediately knew I wanted one of the feature walls to be a display centre of sorts. So I came up with the idea of doing an entire wall of wooden clip boards with 9 boards in total. Doing them as a diy with my husband’s help was not only the best way to customize them but also helped stay on budget.

Materials required:

Wood
Stain
Bulldog clips and screws
Prints (for displaying)

We used pine wood and started off with boards that were 8 feet long and 12 inches wide, a great size for this project. I wanted these clipboards to hold a standard sheet of paper at 8.5 x 11 so we made the size just slightly bigger to 16 inches long by 11.5 inches wide. Once each board was cut to size, we routered the edges for a smooth finish. Next came the staining. For this look, we used Varathane in the Kona stain.

Once all the staining was complete it was time to add the bulldog clips. Not only would these clipboards work well for a workspace or study, it would be such a great way to display children’s art work since you can change it all out so easily. In this case, I’m using the boards to display beautiful botanical prints designed by a local artist. The very last step was to add a keyhole slot to hang the boards. We used a keyhole router bit but you could use picture frame hooks or even drill a hole on each side of the board and hang it with some jute twine.

Overall, this was a very simple diy project and to make all 9 of these clipboards the total came out to $80.

Here’s a look at the full display at the Home Show. I added some Ikea sconces to the top of the gallery to complete the design. Again, the best part about this, is how easy you can change out the art and have fun mixing up the look.