DIY Cheese Board with Leather Handles

You guys, I love cheese.

It’s my guilty pleasure and the sole reason why I couldn’t go vegan. I mean, I love it so much my mom sent me cheese from my favorite dairy farm for Valentine’s Day. Because when you love cheese as much as I do you have a favorite dairy farm of course.

I’ve been lacking one thing that every cheese lover should have—a stylish cheese board. I decided to start with a pretty store bought one and add some DIY charm to it. A couple strips of blush pink leather and brass furniture tacks transform it into a cheese board that I want to use everyday.

Time: 10 minutes
Supplies: cheese board / 2 – 1″ leather strips / 4 brass furniture tacks / scissors / ruler /hammer

Step 1: Cut each strip of leather the exact width of your board. If you’re using the same cheese board as I did, cut each strip 6.5″ long.

Step 2: Fold one leather strip in half lengthwise and trim the end to a point. Repeat this with the other piece.

Step 3: Position one of the leather strips on one end of the board. Place a furniture tack on top of the leather and hammer it into place. If you have an awl (I had one left from college bookmaking projects) this is helpful because you can make a tiny hole in the leather before placing it on the board so you know exactly where you want the nail to go.

Step 4: Continue hammering the other 3 tacks into the board. Since you’re creating handles, you want some slack in the leather so you can actually carry the board, so you may need to reposition each end of the leather strip before hammering in the tack.

If you’ve always wondered how to cut a whole block or wedge of cheese. I created a helpful guide to show you how to divide cheese for sharing. A good cheese plate includes one hard, one soft, and one semi-soft cheese as well as a stronger tasting cheese like a blue. I like using the gold cheese knives (shown above) because the set includes a separate knives for hard, semi-soft, and soft cheeses as well as a fork for serving.

Wondering what else you can do with those pieces of leather? See how I wrapped them around basket handles to create a stylish market basket.