DIY Leather + Cork Mousepad with Pen Groove to Keep the Ideas Flowing

Does anybody else miss the school desks with the pencil grooves at the top? Not all the desks had them in every class, so it was a race into the room to claim them. They were the best! You could line up your curated pencil collection right in front of you and never have to noisily dig through your pencil case.

I’ve seriously considered taking a router to my desk to create an adult-sized version. But since my current desk is just particle board (hey IKEA hey), I decided this leather & cork mousepad could do the trick too.

You’ll Need
cork sheet
heavy weight leather
Exacto
metal straight edge
spray adhesive
pen groove template

1. Cut your leather and cork sheet to the same size (I went with 11.25″x8.5″).
2. Flip the leather over and mark out the pen groove. Slowly cut out the pen groove, taking multiple passes with the Exacto to get a clean edge.
3. Tape off the front of the leather and apply spray adhesive to the back.
4. Starting from the middle and pressing outwards, lay the leather over the cork.
5. Apply weights while it dries.

Small material note: Make sure you use a heavy weight leather. A light weight leather will curl once you adhere it to the cork and will be too soft to drag your mouse across.

I freaking love how this turned out. I can definitely see this one popping up in the annual DIY review, reporting back that it’s one of the most used DIYs of the year! This makes me excited to tackle the studio makeover (right after the laundry closet, kitchen, and bathrooms…).

What other desk accessories should we DIY next?