Saturday, June 21, 2014

Creating a Dining Room Chalkboard

From My Front Porch To Yours- DIY Dining Room Chalk Board Tutorial
Today I thought that I would share with you all how I created our dining room chalkboard.
From My Front Porch To Yours- DIY Dining Room Chalk Board Tutorial
It all started with this 24x36 frame. I knew it would be perfect for the wall in the dining room.
From My Front Porch To Yours- DIY Dining Room Chalk Board Tutorial
Mr. Front Porch and I cut down a piece of scrap plywood that was out in the garage and then I painted it with chalkboard paint. I applied four coats with a foam brush.

From My Front Porch To Yours- DIY Dining Room Chalk Board Tutorial
Next up I seasoned the board by rubbing chalk on it and then rubbing it off with a paper towel. 
From My Front Porch To Yours- DIY Dining Room Chalk Board Tutorial
My original plan was to use chalkboard printouts to save on time but as you can see that did not turn out so well. All was not lost though. To create my print outs I used a tutorial from Lucy over at Craftberry Bush. Mind you she did not say that they would make great print outs. I was just hoping they would. I had these printed at Staples. The Staples employee told me that they have a hard time getting the chalkboard graphics to print out properly so it is a hit or miss most of the time. Instead of throwing the print outs away he only charged me for one which was nice of him because I knew I could make use of them by using the old school transfer method.
From My Front Porch To Yours- DIY Dining Room Chalk Board Tutorial
I went to Michaels and bought a few supplies. I found it was a MUST to have two different sized tips for the chalk markers. The chalk pencil I purchased did not work so save your money on that one. 
From My Front Porch To Yours- DIY Dining Room Chalk Board Tutorial
Next up I flipped my chosen graphic over and rubbed chalk over the back. I used an entire stick of chalk wanting to make sure there was enough on there. Note this is messy and chalk dust will get everywhere.
From My Front Porch To Yours- DIY Dining Room Chalk Board Tutorial
After rubbing chalk on the back I flipped the graphic back over and used painters tape to secure it to the plywood chalkboard.
From My Front Porch To Yours- DIY Dining Room Chalk Board Tutorial
When tracing I always like to use a colored pen so I can see where I have traced already. Make sure you trace with a firm hand.
From My Front Porch To Yours- DIY Dining Room Chalk Board Tutorial
Now this is the part I was not so sure how it would turn out because I normally use a pencil on the back of my graphics to trace and transfer but seeing as pencil lead would not show up on black chalkboard paint I had to resort to using chalk. To my surprise it came out fairly well in most spots.
From My Front Porch To Yours- DIY Dining Room Chalk Board Tutorial
I used the smaller tip chalkboard marker to outline the words. I found it was easier to work from bottom to top so I would not be brushing any of the chalk off with my arm and hand as I went along.
From My Front Porch To Yours- DIY Dining Room Chalk Board Tutorial
Next up I filled in with the wide tip chalk marker.
From My Front Porch To Yours- DIY Dining Room Chalk Board Tutorial
Now it is not perfect but chalkboards are not meant to look perfect. I highly recommend chalk markers. I do not see how you could possibly make a large chalkboard without the chalk markers. They do not brush off but have to be removed with a damp cloth which is a major plus.
This project cost me just $3.50 I think it was for the print outs from Staples and then approximately $4 per chalk marker. I still have plenty left in them for the next chalkboard. I already had the chalkboard paint on hand but I believe it is $9 a can at Lowes. It is a relatively inexpensive project but I will warn you a chalkboard project of this size takes time. From start to finish it took me 2 hours. I made mine after my men were all in bed!:)

Now that the chalkboard is completed I am ready to start on the next dining room project-seating!

Completed dining room space can be seen here.


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27 comments:

  1. love it .....pinned! Christine from Little Brags

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  2. I love your chalkboard! The frame is gorgeous and the way you painted the graphics is beautiful! As I was reading the tutorial I was sure this was taking all day to do but only 2 hours is fantastic!

    Gigi @ Old World Patina

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  3. Love it and, it looks so beautiful with that frame!! Great job and thanks for the tutorial. I always wondered how to do this!!

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  4. Pamela, I just love this mirror transformation! What a great tutorial and a beautiful prayer! Thanks!

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  5. It is really lovely, Pamela! Great tutorial, too. I always wondered how some of those chalkboards come out so nice. I will have to give this a try some time ~ after I get the two different chalk markers. Love the text you used, too. Perfect for a dining room.

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  6. I'll have to try the marker. Your tutorial was great. I always try to come up with my own chalkboard sayings and they seem lame. I'll have to check out Craftberry Bush. Thanks, Pamela.

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  7. It looks fabulous. I love that frame and I love the prayer.

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  8. LUV the chalk board and I luv that prayer! Came out beautifully Pamela.
    Hugs, Gee

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  9. This is a terrific project....Great job and love the wonderful print and the fabulous sentiment of the prayer.

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  10. Love the chalkboard, Pamela! What a terrific idea for doing the transfer, and you did a great job explaining your process.

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  11. Can you post a link to your original printout of the phrase? I love the prayer and the fonts you chose and would love to try to replicate but I'm sure I won't do nearly as nice a job! Love it!

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    1. Maura, I have no idea what fonts I used when I created it on PicMonkey I just kept playing around with them till I had it the way I liked it.

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  12. Can you please let me know where you got the original printout? I've seen different styles of this prayer but I like yours the best. Thank you!

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  13. I am also obsessed with this!! Do you happen to remember the font names you used?

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    1. Erica the only thing that came from Craftberry is the background. I created the phrase myself on PicMonkey.

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  14. I love this and have all the supplies, but can't find the link on Craftberry Bush. Any suggestions? Thanks so much!-Shannon

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  15. I love this and have all the supplies, but can't find the printable on Craftberry Bush. Any suggestions? Thanks so much!

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  16. This is by far my favorite! The frame is gorgeous but I LOVE your fonts. I sure wish you knew what the cursive font is that you used. I can't find a cursive font that I like. Did you get your fonts from dafont.com?

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  17. I love this but cannot find a cursive font that I like. Gosh, I sure wish you knew what font you used! It's perfect! Not too fancy but fancy enough :)

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    1. A_Marie all the fonts were from Picmonkey where I created the graphic. I have the Royal membership which has more fonts.

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  18. Do you know the finished size of your project? Love this. The frame is just perfect.

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  19. Are you able to share your Picmonkey graphic or is that not allowed? Figured out the fonts but I am not sure I have the right ratio.

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    1. Hi Brenda. It all depends on the size of chalkboard you are making. I do not remember the measurements of mine at this moment. If you email me at frommyfrontporchtoyours@gmail.com then I can email you the graphic if I can still find it on my desktop. It has been several years so I am not sure what file I put it in.

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