Get Crafty: How to Make a Country-Style Blackboard
This great family project shows you how to transform a piece of spare timber into a stylish, yet useful blackboard. Upcycling at its best!
Even with all the modern technologies – computers, the Internet, smart phones – it can still be a challenge to keep your daily chores organised. Sometimes all you need is an old-fashioned to-do list and a simple check-off system. There is something about that ritual – about physically crossing off your goals – that can leave a person feeling so accomplished. But organisation does not have to come at the price of style or design. You can make your own rustic blackboard to-do list in an afternoon.
This piece of wood was once a back panel to a small cupboard. The cupboard is now falling apart, but with projects like this you can still get use out of old furniture.
This blackboard has a simple design with rustic touches. By repurposing a piece of scrap wood, you can add to the unpolished charm. Include dotted lines if you see yourself making lists. Keep this chalkboard in the kitchen to easily add to the grocery list or in the craft room for noting needed supplies. But the board can be used for fun, too. Draw on it or leave sweet messages to loved ones.
Materials:
- Scrap of wood
- Blackboard paint
- Sponge brush
- Painter’s tape
- Ruler
- Pencil
- White paint pen
- Three cup hooks (eye hooks work too)
- Jute string
- Chalk
1. Clean your scrap piece of wood board. Use a pencil and ruler to mark the dimensions of the blackboard. The wood in the example has a 5-centimetre border around the edges. Stick painter’s tape along the marked borders to create a clean edge.
2. Use the sponge brush to apply a coat of blackboard paint. Let it dry, then apply another three to four coats or until you are satisfied with the paint coverage.
Once the paint is completely dry, remove the tape.
3. With a white paint pen, mark dotted lines on the blackboard. Let dry.
4. Along the top of the board, screw in two cup hooks spaced evenly apart.
5. Screw in a third cup hook on the front of the board (to hang the chalk from).
6. Cut a length of string to hang the chalk. Tie one end of the string to the hook on the front of the board. Attach a piece of chalk to the other end.
7. Cut another piece of string and knot the ends. Hook the blackboard on the string and hang in an ideal location, such as the kitchen or office.
This project would also make a unique housewarming present. When setting up a new home, a little bit of organisational help, especially a stylish blackboard, can be a welcome addition.
TELL US
How have you used blackboard paint to your advantage? Share high-res photos of your latest project in the Comments section below.
TELL US
How have you used blackboard paint to your advantage? Share high-res photos of your latest project in the Comments section below.