I was tired of a small and overused white board that had been in my office for years. It was too small for me to put anything of significance on and had been used so much that the middle of the board had dry erase marker residue. It could barely be used without constantly washing it. It was frustrating because I am a visual person and so I was posting notes all over the walls of my office making it look more like John Nash’s office in “A Beautiful Mind”. The budget was not there for the team to buy a big whiteboard for my office. It was way too expensive at over $300. I searched and searched to try and find an alternative. It took me awhile but I found a couple of great alternatives that worked so well that I thought I would share.
The first product I found was “White Board Wallpaper” from Fathead. It is basically wallpaper that you peel and stick on a wall and write on like any white board. This “wallpaper” can be removed and will not damage the wall. It comes in a number of different sizes the biggest of which is $99 for a 6 1/2 feet by 4 1/2 feet roll. I installed it, used it all season, cleaned it like a regular white board and it has been amazing. It gave me so much more room to plan for game week. On one side I could list the opponent’s top run plays and on the opposite side their top pass concepts.
In the top middle of the board I could keep tendency and adjustments for the week, while in the bottom middle of the board I could plan out practice for the week. I would take a picture of the whole wallpaper with my Ipad and then email it our players and project it on the screen during meetings. I still had the opponent’s statistics, formation hit charts and roster taped on my walls but that was to be expected. The other day I was in CVS and saw that they are now selling smaller versions of these whiteboard wallpaper, 8.5″ x 11.5″, to stick on your walls.
Check out the picture below and click here to see the link.
Now we have an office we call the “Dungeon” in the basement of the athletic center that has cement walls. Unfortunately the Whiteboard Wallpaper will not stick to cement. So we researched some more to find an option for that space. What we ended up finding was an even less expensive alternative – Hardboard Panel Boards. They can be found at Home Depot or Lowe’s. Made with a smooth white finish and acrylic coating, these boards work just like white boards. A 4-foot by 8-foot panel that is large enough to cover a decent amount of wall space and is just $15.
Click HERE to see a link on an article from Lifehacker (great site for ideas on anything) about using / installing the hardboard panel boards. Click HERE to see different types Hardboard Panel Boards.
We used to always talk about trying to cover as much of our wall space as possible with white boards. But it was cost prohibitive to do so. But now, with the emergence of White Board Wallpaper and Hardboard Panel Boards it is possible for a fraction of the cost. As always, email if I can be of any help to you or your staff! Happy Holidays!
