DIY IKEA NYTTJA bulletin board (Free stencil template)

DIY IKEA NYTTJA bulletin board | Jules @ IKEA Hackers

This DIY project simmered on my backburner for a while now. My church wanted a bulletin board and I volunteered to make a pair. So, like eons ago, I bought the NYTTJA frames and then left them to languish in my spare room.

Finally, 2 Saturdays ago, I was convicted of my tardiness and rolled up my sleeves.

But it wasn’t entirely my fault (cough… ) you have no idea how hard it is to get a large sheet of corkboard in Malaysia. It’s ridiculous. Shops don’t seem to sell them in large sheets or not already framed as a noticeboard. One of the shops I enquired at said if I wanted large sheets, I needed to order like a 100ft of it. What?! If you know where to source them, please let me know.

I ended up at Daiso (the famous RM5 shop) and I bought A3 sized corkboards and joined two of them into one. It’s not ideal as there’s an ugly joining in the middle but it works.

Materials:
Corkboard
Nippon Paint Pylox spray paint – white
Elmer’s Multipurpose Spray Adhesive 
Araldite Epoxy Glue
Cellophane tape

Tools:
Utility knife
Ruler

How to:
First, I drew my stencil template. I printed it on 2 sheets of A4 paper and cut out the crosses. I joined the two A4 sheets with sticky tape into one larger stencil. You can download the template here.

Then I marked where my stencil should go on the corkboard.
I lightly coated the back of the stencil with Adhesive Spray. (If you oversprayed, let the adhesive dry out slightly but not too much. I aired it too much and the stencil did not adhere firmly to the corkboard, making edges of the crosses a little blurred.)
Then I glued the stencil onto the corkboard, aligned with my markings.
Cover the rest of the corkboard with newspaper and sticky tape them down.

See ugly joining! 🙁

Using a sweeping motion, I sprayed the stencil cut outs until I reached the depth of colour I wanted. And woohoo, the stencilled corkboard is done!

Then using Adhesive Spray I fixed the corkboard onto the front of the plastic glazing. (Remember to remove the protective film first, on both sides!)

As I wanted a transparent border around the corkboard, I had removed the cardboard backing of the NYTTJA, which has the hanging hooks embedded. How to hang the frames then?

I salvaged the hooks from the NYTTJA backing and glued them with Epoxy Glue to the back of the plastic glazing of the NYTTJA.

All you need to do now is slot the plastic glazing (now with stencilled corkboard glued onto it) back onto the frame and secure it with the little metal clips.

Here’s how it looks:

DIY IKEA NYTTJA bulletin board | Jules @ IKEA Hackers

DIY IKEA NYTTJA bulletin board | Jules @ IKEA Hackers

For the second board, I decided to use my all time favourite pattern – stripes. It is also much easier. I simply marked the width of the stripes I wanted on the corkboard. Covered the stripes with masking tape and spray painted the exposed areas.

Lastly, I felt blue no longer fit in with the decor of my church. So I went back to the spray board and the blue NYTTJA frame is now a chalkboard black. 

And that’s it! Two bulletin boards in one afternoon.

DIY IKEA NYTTJA bulletin board | Jules @ IKEA Hackers

The stencils gives you something to look at, even when there are no notices.

DIY IKEA NYTTJA bulletin board | Jules @ IKEA Hackers

DIY IKEA NYTTJA bulletin board | Jules @ IKEA Hackers

DIY IKEA NYTTJA bulletin board | Jules @ IKEA Hackers

Checked this off my to-do list, at last. 🙂

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5 Comments

  1. Yes, it is strange that Ikea has only that small childrens pinning board and that the non-pinning memoboards aren't for both magnetics and wipe-out writings.
    On painting your red wall black: doesn't Malaysia has green chalk board paint? It's a kind colour and less dark.
    Stella

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