DIY Chalkboard

I have been SO busy this past week! My daughter and I were at church all week for VBS, we had company over for dinner on Tuesday night, and I had two appointments during the week! Needless to say…we’re tired! Especially my daughter!

I finished up this chalkboard last week, but I finally had some time today to sit down at the computer and write up the blog post!

I found this frame at a garage sale. It was originally a mirror, but once I cleaned it up, I noticed a small scratch. Sound familiar? I obviously need to be more diligent about checking things out thoroughly before purchasing them! Here it is fresh from the garage sale.

I didn’t want to use it as a mirror even if the scratch was really small, so I took the mirror out and replaced it with hardboard. We got a big sheet of it since I’m sure I’ll be using more of it in the future!

My husband cut out the size I needed for my project (because I think he not-so-secretly enjoys helping me when it involves power tools!) and I sprayed it with spray primer. I wasn’t going to prime it, but the hubby thought the chalkboard paint would soak in too much on such a porous surface. So, I decided to listen to his wisdom just this once and prime it! Haha!

After two light coats of primer, I was ready for the chalkboard paint. I used the paint you have to brush or roll on as opposed to the spray stuff. No reason, really. That’s just what I used for my last chalkboard project and we had a ton left over, so that’s what I used! Here is the hardboard painted with chalkboard paint.

I used a foam brush when I painted with the chalkboard paint this time. I will say, as you can see in the next picture, it does leave a texture to board. I’m still debating on whether or not I like the texture. I think if I knew I was going to sell a piece, I’d use a small roller to apply the paint for a smoother finish.

After the paint dried for 24 hours (okay, maybe a little less!), I rubbed a piece of chalk all over the board. See the texture come out? Apparently you have to rub the chalk on and then wipe it off to make chalk work on it. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but I’ve heard it so many times that I just do it every time now!

Next, I had to attach the chalkboard to the frame. I tried wood glue at first, but it just didn’t hold, so I tacked a few finishing nails into the back of the frame to hold it in there securely.

I am hoping to eventually have a gallery wall on our living room wall filled with family pictures and I knew I wanted this to be included in it somehow. But since this is the first piece, I don’t know exactly where it is going to end up on the wall. So, I used Command adhesives to hang it. It’s much better than using a nail, since I may end up moving it in the future.

I believe there are specific Command adhesives for picture hanging, but these are left over from a hook we had once used and they worked perfectly for this. I may use the picture hanging strips for the rest of the pieces on the gallery wall, so that I can change them around if I want…and I won’t have a bunch of holes in the wall!

I should add in here before I go too far, that I painted the frame with Annie Sloan chalk paint in Provence and then used a coat of clear wax over that. The frame does look a little distressed/dirty and that’s because I was using dark wax on something else before I waxed this frame, so my brush had some dark wax on it already. I’m okay with that, though! I think it turned out nicely!

Now, on to the rosettes. I already had made the canvas rosette for a different project, but ended up using it on this. I put it on the frame and felt like it needed a little something extra, so I made the yellow one. To make a rosette, first you cut (or rip) a strip of fabric. This one is a little small, so the rosette turned out a little small. The bigger you want your rosette to be, the bigger (longer AND thicker) you need to cut your fabric strip.

As you can see, the edges can be a little jagged. It just adds to the character of the flower!

Next, tie a knot in the end of the fabric strip. Then you just start twisting the fabric and turning from the knot. I don’t have a picture of this part because my husband was sleeping at the time and I was working on this alone.

I kind of “winged” it as I went anyway, so a picture probably wouldn’t do you any good! I think it’s good to wing it sometimes and just let it turn out how it’s gonna turn out! ;)

And here is my rosette!

I used hot glue to keep the rosette together. I just picked several places on the back and front to dab a little glue, held it for a couple seconds each time, and it held together just fine. I also used the hot glue to attach the rosettes to the chalkboard frame. Just a couple dabs and they were good to go!

Here are a couple shots of the final product.

As you can see, it looks a little strange just hanging on the wall above our couch all by its lonesome. But as I find more garage sale frames, I’ll be adding to my gallery wall collection!