I recently re-arranged a few of the rooms in my house. I was working in an office space that was cold and dark. I found myself taking my laptop into a sunny side room we had instead of working in the colder space.
We decided to make the much larger cold space into a shop for working on the house. We don’t have a garage, and are literally working in our living room most of the time, so this switch just made sense.
In the sunny side room, I decided to make it into my work space. I wanted a few things to help the space feel like mine, and help it feel organized. One of the things I made was a DIY whiteboard. I loved this project, because I made it with things from around my house that I already had. Lets dive in!
Materials
- Piece of plexi- glass
- Painters tape
- Acyrilic stand out mounts
- Spray paint- optional
- A drill and screws
Step 1: Plexiglass
If you didn’t buy a piece of plexi-glass exactly the size you need, you will need to cut it to the size you want. Cutting plexiglass is pretty simple. You score and snap.
My piece of plexi-glass was actually an extra self that was on the floor of this plant shelf I thrifted and re-did last year. I wasn’t using it, and thought it would be the perfect material for a whiteboard. I just used it at the size it was.
Step 2: Drilling the holes
After you have the plexiglass at the size you want, it’s time to drill the holes.
I placed a piece of blue painters tape on the spots that I would be drilling. This helps the drill bit to stay put while drilling the holes.
I used a drill bit that I knew would be big enough to make a hole the size of the acrylic stand off pieces.
I raised the piece of plexi-glass onto a small container that I had. I drilled the first piece on the ground, and once the drill bit went through the piece, it actually broke the piece of acrylic off on the corner. I luckily had another shelf, and raised the second one while drilling the hole.
Go slow. Don’t push the drill bit too fast or you WILL break the acrylic.
Step 3: Acrylic standoffs.
I had some silver ones sitting around from another project. I wanted gold ones. So I spray painted them.
Step 4: Hanging it level
I placed the piece of plexi-glass up against the wall, with a small level. I drew through the holes with a pencil to mark where the screws needed to go.
I have cement block walls, so when I hang things on my walls I have to pre-drill all of my holes for my screws.
I used my hammer drill to pre-drill the pencil spots that I had marked.
If you don’t need to pre-drill any holes, just make sure you are hanging on studs, or using drywall anchors as much as possible, so that this thing will stay hanging once you hang it.
The first step is hanging the back parts of the drywall anchors. The ones I used came with some screws, but I chose longer ones for extra support.
You screw the back end supports onto the wall where you marked the holes to be.
Step 5: Hanging the plexi-glass
Next line up the plexi-glass holes on the white board with the backers you just screwed into the wall. Put the front pieces through the holes of the plexi-glass, and screw them into the backers.
I went one by one, lining each corner up until they were all securely seated.
And thats it!
Choose your dry erase marker, and your whiteboard is ready to go! I love the way it looks in my office. It added such a classy, but practical vibe to the wall.
Thanks for being here-
Amanda