Chalkboard DIY

 Chalkboards are soooo popular nowadays they are a dime a dozen. I never actually planned on making one, for no real reason, other than it just didn’t make it to my gigantic “wish list” list. However, on an outing with my fella for something entirely unrelated at a lumber store, creativity sparked and I was helpless to its will.

    Outside the store was a huge rack of mismatched cupboard doors marked down to as I call it, “Get it outta here!” prices. Crafting is best done when random sales are found and opportunities arise. I found this "40x"20 ivory cupboard door that had some brown discoloration on the panel. For $10 this baby was mine for the taking. I hadn’t come to any decision on what it would be used for but I knew I could put it to good use.

 

The cabinet back had four holes drilled in which I knew would make for easy hanging. Once I settled on where I wanted to hang it, I decided on making it into a chalkboard. I figured all this crazed chalkboard-making hype must not be wrong, right?

       The door has great traditional lines which would actually look gorgeous in a kitchen with all its friends…. but hanging solo in my house will have to suffice. So, the project begins:

 

First thing's first, I needed supplies. Pretty simple stuff involved; two cans of spray paint and some tape. I already had the paint and white paint from this previous project and just needed to buy the chalkboard paint. I went with spray paint rather than a can of paint because spray paint doesn’t leave brush strokes.
P.S. Black chalkboard spray paint is oddly hard to find in Canada. The only place we could it track down was at Rona.

       First step I did was spray paint the white around the outside of the frame. I didn’t tape it off for this step because it didn’t matter if paint got on the middle panel since it was going to be painted black later. Once you’re ready to paint the black then it’s time for taping. This process can be time consuming because you really have to make your lines straight and precise.

 

After the blue tape, I taped some newspapers around the frame to cover the rest of the white. Very simple and better than wasting a ton of tape.

      My fella was on spray paint duty. He started with the edges to be sure it got a thorough coat and then filled in the middle.

 

It took two coats before it didn’t look splotchy but once it was completed and the tape came off I was impressed. Suddenly, I fully understood the chalkboard rage!

   

  What a beaut!

The can of chalkboard spray painted suggested covering the entire board with chalk before using it.

  

  Using a paper towel to wipe away the chalk you end up with a much more familiar looking board reminiscent of childhood school days.

To make the door hangable (ya, that’s not a word) I attached these mean looking metal teeth to the back which I also picked up from Rona for about $2.

        Lastly I threw on some adhesive wall protectors and she’s ready to shine.

 

I settled on the hallway as its new home since I have an abnormally small amount of free wall space in my casa because of an abundance doors, windows, closets etc. so this was basically the only place it would actually fit. Makes my decision process easy!

  

And thus, ends the tale of how this lonely kitchen cupboard got a simple makeover into a fun and useful chalkboard all for about $15 smack-a-roos.

 

Thanks for reading guys and stay tuned for some more projects I am working on as well as a few updates on the progress of my overall home! Feel free to comment and/or share your own personal DIY projects.

(Photos property of Reckless Bliss. Reckless Bliss is not paid or compensated in any way to promote a specific brand or product.)