When we painted our daughters’ room about four years ago, both girls wanted a lot of color. Since our oldest was 13 at the time, I tried to not be too much of a downer and so I allowed more color than I really wanted.
It turned out to be beautiful and was just what they wanted. But now oldest daughter is 17 and would like a little less color in their room.
Goodness, it’s been a source of discussion since younger daughter is only 7 and still loves the colors. So, they’re learning to compromise.
One of the compromises was getting rid of the lime green and pink (yes, lime green and pink) memo board and replacing it with a chicken wire memo board. It turned out so lovely and they actually both love it.
Our family loves taking things no one wants, like frames from the thrift store, and pairing them with things we have laying around, like chicken wire, and “upcycling” them into something useful or lovely.
How to make a chicken wire memo board
Making a chicken wire memo board is super easy. You’ll need a frame, chicken wire, wire cutters, and a staple gun. If you want to paint the frame, you’ll need paint.
We found this large frame at a thrift store for $5. It was just about the same size as the other memo board and my daughters liked the simpleness of the frame.
Since we only needed the frame, we had to take out the picture, glass and the backing. I was hoping we could have found just a frame but we couldn’t find one that was reasonably priced.
My daughter choose black spray paint for the frame. We used a spray paint that had a primer in it. You can also use craft acrylics or really any paint you have on hand, but make sure to use a primer, especially if your frame has a shine on it already.
Once the paint is dry, you can attach the chicken wire. As you can see from the picture, my daughter chose to not paint the back side of the frame. If this were my project, I would have painted the back side. But that’s just me. You can do it however you want for your project.
Using wire cutters, cut the chicken wire to fit the frame.
Next, you’ll want to staple the chicken wire to the back of the frame. In order to get the wire tight, do one long side first, then straighten and tighten the wire on each short side a bit at a time. Then, staple the second long side.
Lastly, hang your new chicken wire memo board and enjoy.
Fabric chicken wire memo board variation
If you don’t like the look of just the wire in the frame you can staple a piece of fabric onto cardboard or foam core board and then staple the chicken wire over the fabric. You’ll need to make sure the fabric and the chicken wire wrap all the way around the cardboard or foam core board and staple it on the back. Then use finishing nails to secure it onto the frame, just like you do with regular photos. Timber Creek Farm has a good tutorial on this.
I’ve seen chicken wire memo boards sold at craft shows for quite a bit and they are actually quite fast and inexpensive to make. It’s one more thing you can add to your income stream if you enjoy crafts.
Have you been doing any upcycling lately? We’d love to hear about it in the comments?
