board

“How did you make that clear whiteboard?”

There are a lot of questions I get as a therapist, but the above question is one I get a lot of from clients…and from other therapists.

I would like to say that I came up with the idea myself, but I didn’t. Rather, my good friend Aubrey McGowan was the brains behind the idea and he helped me make it happen. He even came over to my office and helped me hang it (actually, I sort of watched him hang it–I just lended some help).

I always wanted a big glass whiteboard in my office, but just didn’t feel like I could afford the cost of one. They can range from several hundred dollars for a small one, to several thousand for a large one. So when I saw Aubrey’s church, Hope Fellowship in Frisco, using a clear board on stage I asked him about it.

How To

  1. The plastic I am using is called Lexan. So I contacted a plastic supply company in Dallas (in my case, Allied Plastic Supply). I found that contacting a plastic place and having them cut it for you reduces cost even more.
  2. Choose your size. I went with a 4′ x 6′ board which is pretty big. And I chose a thickness of about 1/2″. Obviously the bigger the board and thicker it gets, the heavier it gets. But to keep it from flexing too much when writing, I chose this thickness.
  3. Do you want it to be clear or sand blasted on back? I chose clear, but I’ve seen some sand blasted which gives it that kind of “fogged” or “smoked” look.
  4. Do you want them to drill holes in the board for when you hang it up? I did — I had them do 6 holes to fit the mounting bolts I was using. (see below)
  5. Have them go ahead and cut it for you; choose clear or smoked/fogged; pre-drill holes. And now you are done.
  6. Since the board can be heavy I just recommend having a friend help you hang it on your wall. I’m not very handy when it comes to construction, so just make sure you are using screws/bolts that will mount into the wall nicely.

bolt

Pros

  1. Functional
  2. Looks cool
  3. Different from what you usually see
  4. Mistaken as art (actually some people think I have an art installation piece in my office)
  5. Cheap: I paid about $180 for the board. And about $20 for the screws/bolts.

Cons

  1. Sometimes is hard to clean. You will notice some darker smudges on my board (in the picture above). I just have to work hard on keeping it clean. I use a spray about once a week on it. Mine is organic cause I was told that the chemicals might mess with the Lexan. But I know others who use 409, Windex, etc and it works great for them.
  2. Reflects a lot of light. So if my window is open (like it is in the picture above) you can see a lot of light reflection. You can also see my lamp reflected. So you may have to close the blinds at certain times of the day like me.
  3. Some colored markers do not show up well. I use EXPO Bold Color Dry Erase markers. I feel like these markers work better than the non-bold ones. The older version of these markers would stain my board, but they have been changed since then and work well. Black and red works well, but I find green, blue and other colors to now work so well.

It’s been a great board for me and I’m thankful for it’s low cost and functionality. I hope this helps. If you have any questions, let me know.