DIY Whiteboard For $3.00
Like most geeks, I love whiteboards. I like it for doing quick UMLs or to just quickly get ideas out (I don’t like them when used for power trips during interviews though - thank you very much).
Also, for some reason, love to practice my Chinese characters on a whiteboard. The big whiteboard pen is closer to a 毛笔 than a normal ball point pen, but takes less effort to use (the ink, the clean up, etc).
Since our move, I haven’t had a whiteboard, and over the weekend I saw this cool DIY whiteboard project on lifehacker. However, the project is way beyond anything I could accomplish, a bit more than I want to spend, and the results are far larger than I need.
I liked the general idea though. I decided to get right on that with thinking.
What I came up with: if you take a normal wall hanging picture with a glass or plastic protective sheet, it makes a perfect whiteboard. Just flip the picture around, or use some other solid colour paper in place of the picture. Here is mine:
Mine is the perfect size for me. I can mount it on the wall, or put it on my lap when I am practising writing.
Just look around at the Goodwill or a yard sale for a picture. You don’t have to like the picture. All you have to look for is a frame you like (mine needed a slight repair via glue gun), and one that fits the size you are after.
If you really want to build a whiteboard, here is a nice tutorial on how to build one for $28