The Making of a Chalkboard: Part 2

Check out the post from yesterday for Part 1.

To continue on with the making of a chalkboard (and all the hard parts are done now) we will prep the trim and chalkboard itself.  I spray painted the front of the trim, while that dried I "seasoned" the chalkboard. In order to "season" a chalkboard, take the side of a piece of chalk and rub it all over the chalkboard (after it has dried for at least 24 hours).

Make sure the chalk you are using is made up of calcium sulfate and not clay.  Clay chalk can easily scratch the surface.  Once you "season" the chalkboard, take a felt eraser and erase the chalk and it is ready to be used.

I still need to attach the chalkboard to the trim.  In order to do that, I pulled out my brad nailer again.  I laid the trim down first, then the chalkboard on top of it.  (Both right sides facing down)  I then used alternating angles and shot the brads into the back of the chalkboard to attach it to the trim.

I had already sprayed the front of my trim, so now I take some primer and touched up the edges of the hardboard and trim.  Once that dried, I spray painted the edges.

Of course, by now the kids were onto what I was doing.  So since everything had dried, I drew a picture for them.

They loved what mommy had to draw so much, they erased it and tried to draw something themselves.

All I had left to do now was figure out how to hang it up.  I had the perfect spot picked out in the house for it.  It would be on the half wall that is on the back side of my kitchen cabinets (the half wall is in the living room).

I picked up some brass hangers.  I decided a pack of 4 should suffice and marked the back of the chalkboard and predrilled my holes, then attached the hangers.

I held this up with my trusty level and marked out on the wall where it was going to hang.

I drilled my holes and put in drywall anchors.  I don't want the chalkboard going anywhere, especially when it's my little monsters that are going to be playing with it.

Once the drywall anchors were in place, I screwed the screws (seriously cannot think of a better way to say that) and hung up the chalkboard.

The chalkboard is complete...almost.  That was until I realized how crooked it looked.  I used the level and check it again, on all 4 sides.  Yup, it's level, but looks off.  I check the counter.

Awesome...counter, NOT LEVEL!  At least this hangs low enough that no one else is going to realize it looks a little off kilter.

Now, it's time for it to be fully tested.  I let Maben at it!

It takes the chalk well.  How about how it does with another kid added.  Come on over Colton.

Both boys are happy with it.  It has received quite a bit of use so far and even Colton's little fingers have no problem getting at the chalk.

This project is a COMPLETE SUCCESS!!!

Sharing this project over at:

The Making of a Chalkboard: Part 1

My kids LOVE sidewalk chalk, they love to draw, my youngest loves to eat crayons, but not chalk.  With all this in mind, I decided to make them a chalkboard for inside, from scratch.  I was also needing something to do with my laptop being out of commission for a few days.

I am going to walk you through how I did it.  It was actually quite easy, much easier than I thought.

I started with a piece of hardboard.  This is a thin piece of (fairly smooth) MDF.

Wipe it down, because you want your surface clean before you spray on the chalkboard paint.

Don't worry, not blood, just paint on my thumb.

You are going to need to apply several thin layers of the chalkboard paint.

I used a can gun...which makes using spray paint SO much easier, especially when you are doing a lot of spray painting.

With each application, spray in a different direction.  Rotate through horizontal, vertical and diagonal until covered with a nice even coat.

Let the paint dry for a full 24 hours before you do anything else with it.

The next step for me was to work on the trim.  We had some left in the garage from the previous owner.

I measured out my hardboard, 24x49 inches.  I needed to cut my trim to this size.  I got to bust out my new Bosch miter saw to cut my trim.

The new miter saw made this so easy to do with a long piece of trim.  It comes with an adjustable hold down.  Nice huh?

I then took the trim piece that was going to be on the bottom of my chalkboard and routed out a groove.  I wanted this so the chalk had a place to sit.  So I took my router loaded in the bit I wanted to use.

The routed edge came out PERFECT!  (I did use the scrap trim to get it right first)

After all my pieces were cut, I pulled out my corner clamps.  A MUST HAVE in any shop.  These make sure you have those perfect corners.

I did a dry set up of all my pieces first.  This way, I knew if I needed to do any sanding/cutting to get those corners to line up the way I wanted to.

I then glued up the corners with wood glue.

Tighten up the clamps.

Before I let the glue sit for the night, I took out my brad nailer and nailed the corners for reinforcement.

I placed nails in the edges at the target locations shown in the photo below.  Be sure to place them in the center or you can risk splitting the wood.

Click here for part II.

Favorite Photo Tuesday #5

Sunday mornings, I typically walk with a friend of mine.  She lives on the other side of the neighborhood, I walk to her house, then we walk to a nice greenbelt park, do a loop and walk back.  Occasionally on the way home after dropping my friend back at her place, I will stroll down a different street than my usual path.  This time I hit the flower jackpot!  The magnolia trees and mimosa trees were in full bloom and looking so beautiful.  I had to stop and take a photo, or two...  (I have told you before, I never leave home without a camera, even on an exercise walk) 

 

 A lovely magnolia, from an absolutely stunning tree.  Oh how I love southern flowers.  The scent was heavenly.

Happy Dance!

Oh I am so incredibly happy right now.  I have my laptop up and running.  I feel like such a geeky goddess reformatting a computer.  Oh yes, the virus knocked out all of my antivirus software and disabled my system restore.  Awesome!  So, while it is up and running, I am still pulling photos, downloading software, bookmarking all my favorite sites, etc.  This I am sure will take a while.

I am also happy that  April is over.  That month really kicked my behind up one side and down the other.  Here's to hoping that May brings calmer waters for not only myself, but my family.

I am going to leave you with a taste of what I have been up to lately and this is also what you can look forward to seeing soon.

Logan Mat Cutter

Bosch Miter Saw

Triton Router

Porter Cable Brad Nailer

Are you curious?  Stay tuned to see how/what I used all these items to create.

Out of Commission

I am out of commission for probably a few days, my laptop contracted a nasty virus and needs to probably be reformatted.  Fun, fun!  Our other computer is located right outside my son's bedroom and since I do almost all of my posting at night, probably not a good idea to keep him awake while I type.  I hope to have this resolved soon because I have some great photos to share and a few projects I've been working on.