Cork

Today, I’m going to talk a little about the many uses of cork. We’ve all heard of cork boards, right? You can buy tiles or rolls to make cork boards for your craft room or your kitchen. You also can buy cork tiling for floors.

When Jeff and I started updating our 100% oak kitchen we knew we would have to find something to line the cabinets with. I knew I wanted my cabinets white, but I was having a really hard time finding anything “cute” to line them with. You have the rubbermaid squishy stuff that slips and slides, or the contact paper that will not come up for a million years (and then it leaves tacky residue). Anyways, I knew none of those options were for us. In updating this home we are trying our hardest to increase the property value in case we ever decide to move out to the country. We are planning on painting all the rooms pretty neutral colors: grays, blues, light greens. We want to do everything right and not skip any corners.

I researched for days on the internet and found out about cork. Cork is mildew and mold resistant, eco-friendly and trees aren’t destroyed in the making of it (they just use the bark).

When I went to Lowes they only had one roll of cork shelf liner,and it was 18” x 24”. We needed it to be 24” wide and a lot longer. We have 36 cabinets for pete’s sake! Long story short, I found out about cork underlayment. It’s made to lay down under tile or other flooring for insulation. It came in a 100ft roll for $89 with free shipping to Lowes. I know that sounds like a lot for shelf lining, but if you add up all the small, paper thin, cork rolls I would have to buy at $10 a pop, I saved us around $100! The underlayment is really thick. I believe it is 1/4 of an inch or more. The cork lays down flat and doesn’t move at ALL! I’ve heard that the rolls of cork shelf liner tear because they are so thin.

I would like to give a big shout out to my hubby who cut it exactly to fit all of my cabinets. I cannot measure or cut straight. You will find out through this blog, if you don’t already know me, that I am not a perfectionist. You would think with all the crafts and hobbies that I do I would have to be, but I’m an artist at heart, which means that I use my creative brain, not my literal. I am also very bad at English, which is why you will see many run-on sentences and extra commas everywhere. I will apologize for that right now, sorry.

We are both very please with the results and I highly recommend buying the cork underlayment if you have TONS of shelves to line. It’s worth the time and money to make it perfect.

I chose not to line my drawers in the kitchen with it because I wanted a little vintage charm and a pop of color. Our kitchen is going to have white cabinets and white subway tile backsplash, so I wanted just a little color on the inside of the drawers to make me smile when I open them. Also, our kitchen is uber modern, but I love vintage kitchen utensils, so I’m mixing the two styles (can you do that)?

Looks nice, huh? Please excuse the fact that my cabinets are being used as a pantry. We have to completely gut the old pantry and add dry wall, shelves, tile, ect.

Concerning the fabric for the drawers, I bought Mod-Podge and a foam brush, then I applied it over the fabric before I cut it. The reason for me applying the Mod-Podge is that it seals the fabric to protect it, makes it cut like paper, and keeps the edges from fringing. Here are a few pics of the fabric I chose to line the drawers.

I picked this because it was the most vintage looking fabric Hobby Lobby had at the time (I live very far from other fabric stores). I like the idea of all the states, because Jeff and I love to travel. Plus, we’ve lived in a lot of these states. Shout out to Alabama, home of cotton (obviously)! So, what do ya’ll think? Good news is I didn’t Mod-Podge it down, so if I get tired of it I can just switch it out. I think it cost me around $8 for the fabric to line 7 drawers.

Let me know if ya’ll have any other neat ideas for shelf liners!

Cheers!