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| Today I thought that I would share with you all how I created our dining room chalkboard. |
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| It all started with this 24x36 frame. I knew it would be perfect for the wall in the dining room. |
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| 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. |
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| Next up I seasoned the board by rubbing chalk on it and then rubbing it off with a paper towel. |
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| 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. |
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.
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| 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. |
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| After rubbing chalk on the back I flipped the graphic back over and used painters tape to secure it to the plywood chalkboard. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| Next up I filled in with the wide tip chalk marker. |
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| 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.
Visiting these lovely spots:
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