A couple of weeks ago, I was wandering through the craft aisles at Walmart, and I spotted this letter board for $9.97.

I have a white board with erasable markers on my bedroom door where I write down lists of things that each person in the house needs to get done. I have an owl-shaped chalkboard on the wall by my bed where I write inspirational quotes. I have a chalkboard/organizer by the front door for us to leave notes for each other. And I have a big chalkboard/organizer on the wall by the fridge for us to write down things we need to pick up at the store. So really, I didn’t need this letter board. But….but….I don’t actually have any letter boards and it could be kind of fun to write things on it too. And hey, it was only 10 bucks. So I tossed it in my cart, brought it home, and threw it on my ever-growing pile of stuff in the living room that I eventually plan to do something with.

I’ve been babysitting one of my grandbabies while my daughter works now, which means Monday through Friday from 4am until 3 or 4pm, I’ve got an 11-month-old attached to me. He makes it tough to crochet anything because he thinks yarn is all meant for him to play with, and let’s face it, babies can be pretty boring. So last week while I was sitting there in the living room watching Moana for the ten-millionth time (that day), I grabbed the letter board and sat there and pulled all of the letters out, then wrote some random, generic quote on it. I hung it temporarily on the living room wall, but it was sooooo boring-looking.

I started browsing Amazon, looking for some funner letters to use on it, and added a few things to my wish list. I thought maybe I’d paint the boring white border and make it match my bedroom. I even considered just painting the letters that came with it, but I realized the paint probably wouldn’t stick to any of it. During an unrelated trip to Joann’s with my youngest daughter, we found these awesome 2 inch letters.

They have them in other colors, like light pink, dark pink, red, gold, silver, black, and white, but the teal was perfect for my bedroom. I bought them. I went back later and also picked up some 2 inch silver letters, and some 1 inch pink ones, but these teal ones are my favorite.

Then at work last weekend, I have another idea. Instead of painting the border, I decided washi tape would be the best option. It’s quick, easy and comes in so many different colors and sizes. I picked up this great turquoise pack at Michaels after work.

I really didn’t need this much tape, but really, can you have too much washi tape? I only used the glitter and the polka-dot tape, and now I have more for some other project. So here’s my finished letter board:

I absolutely love it, and it matches my bedroom so well. Now, I just have to find some wall space to hang it…..

Have you spruced up any cheap products that you’ve found? I love seeing what people do to make simple things look fancier. Head on over to my Facebook page and share a photo with me.