Ok reader friends, we’re back with just two more installments in this “How to Make Your Office Awesome” series. So far, I’ve shared some tips for de-cluttering your workspace, a tutorial on how to make a wooden pallet wall, a tutorial on how to make yourself some custom dry erase boards, and a tutorial on how to make a t-shirt wall.
And today, I want to give you a peek at my favorite part of my whole office, because it’s super functional and it looks pretty cool, too.
MY VOLUNTEER WALL.
I oversee all the volunteer development, training, and care for our Middle School Ministry, so it was really important to me to have a big statement piece in my office that was all about them. I wanted something that would help me remember practical things, like who was serving where, but I also wanted something that would help me remember why I do what I do.
So I decided to put all of my volunteers’ pretty little faces up on my wall. (Aren’t they so cute?)
Let me tell you what you’re looking at, and then I’ll tell you how to make it.
Two different boards. On the left, I’ve got a big dry erase board with the names of all my Cafe and Greeter teams, plus my “waiting list” of folks who are hanging out until a spot opens up for them. And then, on the right, I’ve got an even bigger magnetic chalk board with the faces of all my Small Group Leaders.
Today, I want to show you how to make that magnetic chalkboard happen. Because I love it.
So, to make this guy, gather up all the supplies I’ve listed over there on the right. You can find the paint at any hardware store, the magnetic paper at any office supply store, and the Small Group Leader Profile Cards on Stuff You Can Use. Then…
1. TAPE OFF THE AREA YOU’D LIKE TO PAINT… AND PAINT! Start with two coats of magnetic paint, then follow it up with two coats of chalkboard paint.
2. MAKE AND PRINT PROFILE CARDS FOR YOUR SMALL GROUP LEADERS. If you haven’t already downloaded the free template for our Small Group Leader Profile Cards, now is the time. These cards are something we use to connect Small Group Leaders with the parents of their students, but they also came in handy for my Small Group Leader Board. You can either print them directly onto magnetic paper, or you can print them on cardstock and stick magnets on later.
3. ADD HEADERS. For me, I felt the best way to organize my leaders would be by service time (at the top) and grade (down the left hand side). So on the actual chalkboard, I hand-lettered my service times and grade levels with chalk. Then, above the board, I had a local printer make me some vinyl letters that spell out “SMALL GROUP LEADERS.” Oh, and, because I am a girl and I love crafts, I made our ministry logo with upcycled magazine pages and stuck it to my wall, too.
4. ORGANIZE YOUR SMALL GROUP LEADERS. We have two services for our ministry, so I started by splitting my board down the middle, with the 9:00am Small Group Leaders on the left and the 11:00am Small Group Leaders on the right. Then, I separated them vertically by the grade they work with. And then, within their grades, I also separated them by gender.
Here’s the finished product (but, heads up, since the new school year hasn’t begun quite yet, this wall is totally out of date)…
CUBICLE HACK: If you’re in a cubicle or, for whatever reason, don’t have the wall space to pull this off, here’s an alternative that might work. Create a mini version of this wall by stopping at the hardware store and picking up either a thin sheet of metal (which will let you skip the painting entirely) or (if you still want the chalkboard look) a thin piece of wood. Follow the rest of the steps I’ve outlined, but using that sheet of metal or wood as your base. These solutions are smaller and relatively light-weight, so they could be hung with just a few nails or even propped up against your cubicle wall.
So what do you think? Will you try it? Do you have any other cool ideas?