DIY Chalkboard

After spending months and months drooling over magazine photos of kitchens with chalkboard-painted walls, I finally got myself some paint. Although I was a little sad the husband wouldn't let me paint the kitchen wall - or the laundry room wall or even the kitchen door - he didn't have a problem with a chalkboard.

And since he said that we could make room for my highly desired chalkboard in the kitchen, I thought that was fair.

The project took a bit longer than I had anticipated, but I couldn't be happier with the way it turned out. Unfortunately our garage isn't conducive to photos. The lone window doesn't let in much light, we keep dirty stuff like shoes, garden gloves and the husband's tools out there, and Stella has a habit of getting out recyclables while we're out work, so we always have tiny shreds of paper on the floor.

Long story short, I didn't take a single photo of this project. But trust me, it's super simple.

First step: a trip to one of those big box home improvement stores with the husband. I picked out the chalkboard paint and a small roller, and the husband got me a piece of luan. We also picked up a long piece of unfinished trim.

We measured the space once we got home and cut the board to size. (Who am I kidding? I told the husband where I wanted the chalkboard; he measured and cut the board. I don't do numbers.)

Then it was time to get painting. The trim was perfect and ready to be cut after just two coats of red, but the chalkboard itself took a little more time and effort. 

I painted the board with some old white paint we had hanging around the garage, hoping it'd act as sort of a primer. I'm not sure this is necessary, but I thought I'd mention it 'cause that's what I did. 

The first coat of chalkboard paint went on as soon as my "primer" was dry. I painted the smoother side of the board, but when the husband thought it wasn't smooth enough for writing, he got out the sander. If you're using a large board and not a nice smooth piece of MDF, you may want to sand your board first, then paint.

A couple three more coats of chalkboard paint and our chalkboard was ready to be trimmed. The husband cut the trim and used short nails to secure it to the chalkboard.

And then it was time for my favorite part: hanging our finished product to the kitchen. I bought 3M sticky mounting strips so we wouldn't put any more holes in the walls. (We want to sell this place some day, remember?)

The chalkboard is a great addition to the kitchen and has made everyone happy: I got my chalkboard paint and it'll be easy to remove when the time comes.