How to make a classy, modern vision board

Who says vision boards have to be ugly? We've all made the vision boards with the newspaper clippings that perhaps we glued to a piece of cardstock only to throw away a few months later because we got tired of looking at it. Those are fine, however they are not always esthetically pleasing and often look like someone's art project. This is not that. My goal was to make a posh, fancy, modern vision board that I would want to keep year round and that I would be excited to use and look at daily. For me, the aesthetic of a room is everything! It has to have a theme, a purpose, a feel when I walk in. Right now, I'm working on finishing up decorating my home office that is not only a work-from-home space, it is an inspiration space where I can blog and work on all the other projects that I have vision for. The look & feel I'm going for is modern, stylish and inspiring. And this pin board style vision board will be the focal point of the room. I'm going to show you step by step how to make this, for under $30, and most items were purchased at Hobby Lobby.

Here's what you'll need:

1. 6 pack of plain canvases (12x16 inches)
2. Burlap (in the color of your choice)
3. a 12x24 inch roll of cork
4. 3/4 inch decorative nails (black)
5. Glue gun and glue sticks
6. Mini chalk board border
7. A pair of 4 inch mending plates (with screws)
8. Drill
9. Metal hanging hooks 

Ok are you ready? Let's get started!

Step 1. 
Start with your canvases. Glue to canvases together with the hot glue gun. I did mine with three canvases across in two rows. Hold each together until the glue dries. Remember to work quickly so the glue doesn't dry before you get them bonded. 

Step 2.
Once the glue on the canvases is dry, roll the cork board over the front side of the canvases (i.e. the side you would normally paint), being careful not to let it tear. Secure it with some more hot glue. 

Step 3.
Now we're ready for the burlap. Can we just take a praise break to talk about how I found aqua burlap!? My FAVORITE & SIGNATURE color! Come through Hobby Lobby! ?? Ok, rant over. Flip the cork side down and lay on top of the burlap. Then glue the sides up over the back side of the canvases. Be sure the pull the burlap tightly so that it is not loose, and so that the front will be nice and smooth. If you have an upholstery nail gun, use that to keep the burlap in place, but it's not necessary.

Step 4.
Now let's add some reinforcement. Screw the mending plates into the spine of the back of the canvases with your drill, ideally where 4 of the canvases meet. This will keep the board together if the glue decides to come loose or if there are small gaps in between the canvases.

Step 5. 
Now for the fun part! So the structure of the board is done. All we have left is to add the decorative nails. Add these all around the perimeter of the front of the board. If you so choose, you can space them using a ruler. I approximated the placement because for me that's enough. (And if you know anything about me, I don't measure anything in my projects, not even in cooking ?)

Step 6.
Now let's get ready to hang this baby!. Drill your hanging hooks into the back of the canvas. I recommend eyeballing the front of the canvas - make sure your best side is up ?. Attach some nails to the wall, and then use the hooks to hang the vision board.

Step 7.
Lastly, add the chalk board header. I hot glued some ribbon I had in my craft box to it and used it to hang it. You can always leave yourself a message of encouragement, but I chose to simply put the word "Vision"

And voila! You're done! I haven't decided how I want to visually display my vision/ideas yet, but I'll likely be doing a combination of pictures and written plan of attacks. I also plan on organizing my vision board by the various parts of my life because I have a specific vision for each one. Without putting all my business out there, I will share two things that are on my vision, which my readers/followers are already a part of: 1) my home (which I purchased this year), and 2) growing and building my blog, which you are already a part of (Thank you!!). 

Until my next DIY project! Please let me know if you decide to make this - I'd love to hear about it!

​-T