DIY wall-sized bulletin board

My kids like to hang things on the wall.

I have been painting a lot of walls this year, and have noticed what a pain it is to spackle, sand and repaint the areas that are punctured with pin holes and peeled off by tape.

When we decided to paint our youngest son's room, I knew immediately that I wanted to give him a large wall space where he could hang and re-hang whatever he wanted, without poking holes in the freshly painted walls.  We opted for an area of his wall that was about four feet high by four feet wide.

I found 12-inch square cork tiles on Amazon, and decided the darker color would provide a nice contrast.

I've tried to mount cork on walls in the past, and remembered that the little adhesive strips that come with the tiles do NOT do a very good job of adhering the tiles to the wall.  Do not be fooled by thinking that since the adhesive strips come with the packaging, they are the best method.  Cork has moisture in it.  The cork tiles eventually fall, break off the wall in ugly chunks, and leave you frustrated with a crumbly mess.  I did some research and found a better way.

You know those foam-core poster boards that kids use for school projects and displays?  You can find them for a fairly inexpensive price (we paid $1.29 each for three) at craft supply stores and Target or WalMart.  We cut the foam into pieces to fit in the four-by-four area, and used the little double-stick adhesives that come with the cork boards to adhere the foam-core to the wall.

Super easy.

Once the foam-core was in place, it took a little more than a tube of liquid nails to adhere the cork tiles to the foam boards.

With an extra set of hands,

 this process goes very quickly.

While the adhesive was still wet, I pressed the cork tiles onto the foam board just below where I wanted them to sit, and then slid them up and firmly pressed them into position.

Tah-Dah!

A wall-sized bulletin board.

Everyone loves it.

 If you have a handyman like mine around, you can even request that he make a piece of molding to frame it.