Duuude, let’s go boarding. Clipboarding, that is. I’m not coordinated enough for a surfboard, skateboard, or snowboard, but this I can handle. This old clipboard came from the playroom, where I dropped it among ceramic animals with the thought, “I’ll do something cute with this later.” Months passed and I finally decided it was time. It had been a favor from a bridal shower I attended last fall — we used the clipboards for a bride-quiz game and were told to take them home so the host wouldn’t be left with a pile of extras.
At first I considered covering the clipboard with pretty paper and using it on the wall to display Clara’s rotating artwork or notes to John. Before making any hasty decisions I asked John for his input, and he suggested a better idea based on something we’d done in our first house: an in-cabinet corkboard where we kept shopping lists, recipes, and articles about food we wanted to try.
We loved that setup but didn’t want to repeat it exactly. We now keep favorite recipes in a binder behind plastic sleeves and usually make shopping lists on our phones. Still, we had a stack of takeout menus shoved into the utensil drawer — so cramped that you had to lift the whole tray to get them in and out. Why not hang the clipboard inside a kitchen cabinet to hold menus and a small pad for jotting down groceries when the phone isn’t handy, like when you’re holding a toddler? Sold.
I began by covering the board with a cheerful teal paper. I considered patterned options but opted for something simpler so anything clipped to the board wouldn’t compete with a busy background. The paper was a leftover remnant from a prior project (a bargain from the craft store).
To fit it, I set the paper under the clipboard and traced the shape, estimating the cutout needed for the metal clip at the top. After cutting the paper, I placed it on the board to confirm the fit. Then I applied glue — I used Aileen’s Tacky Glue, the same bottle I’ve had for years — spreading it evenly and smoothing with my finger so the paper wouldn’t show lumps from the adhesive.
Once the paper was glued on, I weighed it down with a stack of books until it dried. When it was ready, we selected the upper cabinet next to the built-in microwave and hung the clipboard at an easy-to-reach height. It sits hidden when the door is closed, which we love; someday we might hang a small framed photo above it for balance, but for now the clipboard being out of sight is perfect.
We didn’t want to make any permanent holes in freshly painted cabinetry, so we used a removable solution. The clipboard had a small metal tab at the top, and we mounted a clear 3M Command hook inside the cabinet using the temporary adhesive strip. The hook holds the clipboard’s metal tab securely and can be removed later without damaging paint. The clipboard can also be lifted off the hook whenever needed.
At the moment it holds our takeout menus and a quick shopping list I wrote when my phone wasn’t nearby. Yes, my list really does say “eggs (12)” because I often forget whether I meant a half dozen, a dozen, or two dozen.
So that’s the finished project: an old clipboard repurposed for free, freeing our utensil tray from menu duty and adding a small, functional improvement to the kitchen. It’s simple, tidy, and brings a little satisfaction whenever I open the cabinet and see everything organized.
What projects have you finally gotten around to? Any clipboarding happening where you are? It may be the next attainable “sport” for those of us who are too wiggly to mount a surfboard or skateboard — you can even “hang ten,” and by that I mean ten menus.
P.S. We hung out with our teenage niece and nephew this weekend to check in on current slang. Apparently “swagg” and the sarcastic “cool story bro, tell it again” are in. It’s funny how quickly slang changes and how the whole vocabulary can feel new to those of us who grew up saying phrases like “no diggety” and “word up.”