Our Hopeful Home: DIY iPad Stand From Thrift Store Cutting Board (And My Secret Ingredient!)

Making an iPad stand with a thrift store cutting board has been on my radar for well over a year. And recently I came across a perfect cutting board for the project. With Father's Day looming large I knew I had to get busy. While my husband is a fabulous cook, he's not a big recipe-follower. He's one of those fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants kind of cooks. So even though you see this iPad stand all over Pinterest being used for holding recipes in the kitchen, I knew he could use it for something more.

I knew when I saw this board at Goodwill for $2.99 that it was THE one. It's the quintessential shape and size you see touted on Pinterest and everywhere else as the one to use for this type of project. Score. Other than the cutting board, all you need is something to use as a "ledge" to place the iPad on, as well as something to use as a backstop of sorts to allow it to sit upright on the counter.

vintage Scrabble game box and tile holder

For the ledge I used a tile holder from a thrift store Scrabble game I found for 99 cents at Goodwill. Once I got the game home I happily realized that I can use the alphabet tiles for other projects as well.

My son got involved with this project, seeing that it was for Father's Day and all. I told him he had to brainstorm and come up with what we could use for the backstop. Short of having my husband saw some wood, we decided to hit the local Michael's and see what they had in the woodworking aisle. If that was a bust we were going to try Hobby Lobby and then Home Depot. I told my son we had to think outside the box.

And that we did. Within moments of entering the store we spied this beauty on sale for 60% off. After a short discussion we decided that it was just the right piece to help us complete our project. Neither one of us could believe that we hadn't thought of using a mini-easel before! Cost:$1.59. Score again.

I knew I didn't want to have to create a hinge myself, so I was thrilled to find this "secret ingredient" for our DIY iPad holder!

It was the perfect size for the job.

And bonus: it was a chalkboard!

So to recap: take one thrift store cutting board, add one Scrabble tile holder and one pre-made wooden easel, and voila.

DIY iPad stand thrift store cutting board

Here's one recipe I can get on board with!

(If pinning for the recipe, please pin from the original source:

The Chic Site)

We used E600 glue to put it all together. I toyed with the idea of painting it or stenciling something on it, but for now I'm going to leave it as is. Oh, and what will my husband use it for if he's not using it for recipes?

Why, Pandora of course! He never likes to cook without his music!

I think my husband liked his kitchen companion, along with a few other gifts we gave him. They were all cooking-related. But as I said, he's not a real recipe-follower. But he IS an awesome cook. Lucky me.