Making a chalk board

This is the view from our mudroom as you enter the rest of the house.  You can go through this hallway to the kitchen, turn slightly to the right and go up the stairs or go further to the right and enter the living room.

We made this chalk board while we lived in Virginia.  We had a beautiful brick wall in our kitchen and made this chalk board to go on it.

My mother and father-in-law were visiting at the time and I remember my father-in-law and husband wrestling this thing and putting it together.

We cut a piece of plywood the size we wanted and then cut moulding to frame it.  I painted the plywood with chalk board paint.  You can buy chalkboard paint in either a can or spray paint.  I used the canned paint for this board.  I then painted the moulding gold.

The tough part was getting the moulding connected to the plywood.  Plywood is flexible and so using glue didn't work.  Whenever we went to pick the whole thing up, it flexed and the frame came off the board.  This will probably only happen with a board this big.

We ended up screwing the moulding to the board.  When we put it here in our house in Michigan, Mark screwed the chalkboard right to the wall.

It was hard to get good pictures because of the hallway.  Laura left us this 'art' on one of their visits and I've kept it for months.  It will be hard to erase it.  But we usually use this board as reminders for what we need to do and appointments.

Like I said, chalkboards are a lot of fun.  Levi loves drawing on it when he's here.  It's low enough for him to reach but it's great to paint a wall in a child's room with chalkboard paint.  You can make your own chalkboard paint in any color!

This is the chalk board that hangs in our dining room.  I love putting an appropriate saying for holidays, posting a 'welcome' to friends that come over or a Bible verse.  You can also post your menu for a nice dinner.

I made this chalkboard from a mirror we had.  I simply  took the mirror out and cut a piece of plywood the same size.  I painted this one with chalkboard spray paint.

As you can see, whatever I wrote on it before this Bible verse didn't clean off very well.  I've since learned that you need to 'season' your chalkboard by turning a piece of chalk on its side and covering the chalkboard with a thin layer of chalk.  It will then have an even coating and not show the changes.  You'll still probably need to freshen it up occasionally with a new layer of paint.

You can use any existing frame that you have.  Also don't hesitate to paint your frame a different color.  Spray paint works the best for this and then you can 'antique' it by rubbing it with watered down black paint.

Have a blessed weekend!

 "An excellent wife, who can find? For her worth is far above jewels."  Proverbs 31:10