how i made a chalkboard that's as tall as i am

i'm so excited to show you how i made a big honkin' chalk board for our kitchen wall.
it was such a fun project!

first i went to lowes and got a 4X8 sheet of fiber board (i think that's what it's called).
it's right by the peg board and bead board.
it looks like this:

i had them cut it down to 4X5 for me.
by the way, i have an extra piece that's 3X4 if anyone wants it. :)

i hauled that sucka home and painted it with spray primer.
you could use regular primer out of a can as well.

then i painted on 3 coats of chalk board paint, sanding in between each coat.
you've got to make sure you let it dry enough before you sand . . . just follow the directions on the back of the can.
i just left it on our garage floor and went back every 6 hours-ish and sanded it and painted another coat.
super easy & quick.

i bought a super cheapo paint brush from wal-mart b/c i knew i'd just throw it away after this project was complete.

and in between coats i put it in a ziplock in the fridge so the paint wouldn't dry out.

i can't be bothered by silly things like cleaning paintbrushes.

who has time for that?

then AJ and i brought it in, slapped some liquid nails on the back & screwed it in place.

it was a little tricksy holding that thing in place while aj drilled the screws in, but we powered through.

we also managed to knick it a bunch with the chair, our belt buckles, etc. in the process.

so i sanded it and did another coat once it was up there.

then it was time for the trim.

i bought 3, 7 foot pieces of mdf trim also at lowes.  

then we, and by we i mean AJ, measured and mitered the corners using this handy, dandy miter box.

if you don't have this tool, you should.  it is super handy and doesn't take up much space in your garage.

it comes with markings and slots for different angles you might want to cut.  it really makes creating a mitered corner simple.

next, AJ nailed each piece up.

lookin' pretty good, right?

next i used caulk to fill in any cracks where the corners met, nail holes & where we pieced the bottom piece together.  This makes it look nice and seamless.

the next step is to take the side of a piece of chalk and rub it over the entire board to prep the surface.

then you erase it all and it's good to go!

  but you know i'm not finished with it yet!

it looks good white, but i wanted a pop of color.  teal, to be exact.

i used a small artist's paintbrush to paint the outside & inside edges.

i also can't be bothered to tape so i grabbed the trowel we used when we put our new floors down.

i just pressed it up against the trim so that when i painted, none of the paint would get on the chalkboard.  make sense? clear as mud? good.

i did this super fast.  as you know, i am so not a perfectionist.  i like quick results.

i just slapped it up during nap time.  i did 3 coats (letting it dry in between) so that there was no streakiness.

 here she is in all her teal glory.

i love her.

 seriously, this was such a fun project.  and i am so happy with how it turned out.

the boys love it obviously.  my boys are very artistic and this is right at their level.

it's handy for homeschooling.  i look forward to many messages being written here.

for right now i just have the chalk & eraser sitting on the window sill.

you can see it in this picture...kind of.

 i may come up with something more creative later. . .or not. . . we'll see.

okay, so now that i know you all want to do this as well, here's the cost break down of my 4 foot by 5 foot chalkboard:

hard board: $6.98

trim: $12.57

chalkboard paint: $8.97

spray primer:$2.97

quart of teal paint: $6.97 (i barely used any of this so i have a ton left for other projects)

caulk: $2.00

paintbrushes & sandpaper: free, already had on hand

total: $40.46!!!!!!

compare that to the ones from ballard designs at upwards of $300

or a smaller one from pottery barn for $149

So for around 40 bones we have an aesthetically pleasing, very functional for our family, chalkboard.

it should be noted that if we had flat walls, i would have totally just painted that whole wall with chalkboard paint. but alas, our walls are textured.  but, i'm glad b/c i love the teal frame. :)

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