DIY Pottery Barn Teen Style Tiles on a Budget

If you have a daughter and she is anything like my Grace, you likely have every piece of paper she has ever colored, every math worksheet she has ever completed, every spelling test she's ever aced, every art project she's ever done...  You get the picture.  My Grace is a true pack-rat. 

To address her need to keep EVERYTHING and to alleviate the pile of papers growing on the family computer desk, I wanted to provide her with a space of her own for her "collections."  I came across these stylish and adorable tile wall systems at Pottery Barn Teen:

The $300 price tag was a little too hard to swallow though...  So what's a girl to do?  Steal a Pottery Barn idea and make it cheaper!  And that's just what we did - for 1/3 of the price. 

Here is our DIY version:

I found the tiles at JoAnn's.  They were about $7.99 a piece, but I had my Friends and Family 25% off coupon.  You could definitely do this project with 4 or 6 tiles - you don't need 9.  The fabric is also from JoAnn's - on sale and an additional 25% off.  The black tiles are magnetic and are also a chalkboard. 

The fabric colored tiles are cork boards.  To cover the cork boards with the fabric, I cut squares of fabric about two inches bigger on each side of the cork board.  I then sprayed the front and sides of the cork board with adhesive.  After I sprayed the cork boards, I laid the cork board face side down on the back of the fabric.  I then wrapped the fabric around the tile, using a staple gun to adhere it to the back of the tile.

After all of the tiles were covered, my husband fastened them together using mending plates he found at Home Depot.  He then cut four pieces of pre-painted molding to fit around the squares.  He used L-brackets to put the frame together and then fastened the frame to the 9 tiles using the same mending plates.  After the tiles and frame were one piece, he put "S hooks" on the top of the fame to use it to hang on the wall.  His supplies cost around $20.

This was a true family project.  Grace was thrilled to pick out her fabric.  We learned the art of compromise picking out the fabric...  My husband deserves a lot of kudos - this was one of his first "real" projects and he did a great job figuring out how to out-smart Pottery Barn!

Thanks for looking!