We needed a chalkboard in the kitchen, one that wouldn’t look awful, but I’m cheap and didn’t want to pay $99-$149 for a chalkboard from Pottery Barn, so I made one.
I guess I should tell you what it cost, but I have no idea.
We already had a picture frame we weren’t using, and I had some quarter-inch plywood and a can of chalkboard paint that I’d bought for other projects.
The only hardware I had to buy were 4 small mending plates for holding the chalkboard inside the frame ($3 for a pack of 4) and a French cleat for hanging it ($15).
I trimmed the quarter-inch plywood to fit inside the frame than painted it with the chalkboard paint. I gave it a couple coats. Once the paint had dried overnight, I used the mending plates to hold the chalkboard inside the frame.
I used small screws; too long, and they’ll poke through the front of the frame, and there’s no good way to fix it. Don’t screw the mending plate into the chalkboard. The chalkboard isn’t thick enough. Plus, you don’t need to. It isn’t going anywhere.
Mending plates hold the chalkboard in the picture frame; a French cleat holds the frame to the wall.
Finally, I mounted it with a French cleat. The frame had hooks, and I tried hanging it with picture wire, , but it wasn’t stable enough, so I unscrewed the hooks and installed the cleat.
It comes in 2 parts. One is screwed into the wall (use a level to keep it straight) while the other is screwed onto the back of the frame.
The only trick was making sure the screws weren’t long enough to poke through the front of the frame.
It took probably an hour to make. I’m guessing it would have cost about $50, if I hadn’t used materials I already had cluttering up the garage.
I think it turned out OK. It kind of goes with the rest of the kitchen, and it doesn’t wobble when you write on it, and that’s about the best you can hope for when you’re making up a project as you’re going along.
I love it! Way to stick it to Pottery Barn.
Thanks, Maura. What’s the point of owning power tools if you can’t stick it to the Barn?
Nice job
Thanks.
It’s stuff like this that makes one feel like a real man around the house.
You should see the HDTV antenna I made out coat hangers and scrap wood! (It doesn’t look like much, but that sucker picks up 18 channels.)
Congratulations! I will probably last longer than a PB model, too!
Thanks, Thomas! I don’t know whether it’ll last longer, but it was a heck of a lot cheaper!
Great Idea! Looks terrific.
Thanks, Dusty!
Nice. I bet it would have cost at least $50 because I’ve seen chalkboard paint at $20 a can.
BTW, why the change from “Todd Pack’s messy desk” to “Notes from my …” ?
It was a quart can, and I seem to remember it was $5 or $10. It’s been in the garage about 5 years, so I really don’t remember, but I know me, I’m too cheap to pay $20 for chalkboard paint!
I may go back to the original name. I changed it because a) I downloaded Inkscape, which is kind of like an open-source version of Adobe Illustrator, and I b) thought it would be cool to create a custom header, and c) I thought I’d like to de-emphasize my name and focus more on the writing.
P.S. I never set out to blog under my real name. This was going to be more of a professional/resume site, but I started posting random thoughts more or less as filler and, 17 months later, here we are, talking about Star Wars, Martha Quinn and Pottery Barn. (Let that be a lesson to you, kids!)
I see your point. I started out thinking mine was going to be professional too. I was going to be the blogging nurse practitioner, enlightening the blogosphere with exercise, health and wellness tips. Now I’m posting pictures of cowboys posing with Star Wars people and writing posts ripped from the headlines of The Onion. My compromise was to use an alias blogging name but put my real name in “about” – so when everyone wondered who that wonderful font of information was, they could find out.
If my opinion matters any – I really liked the sound, look and feel of “Todd Pack’s Messy Desk”. Maybe you should poll the readers!
Very cool Todd! Love when you can put things to use that you have already purchased or can repurpose something.
I have to admit, it’s a good feeling.
I love it! It looks just as good as anything I have seen in the catalog. I was thinking about doing the same thing if I can find a really cool frame…I am glad I read your post though because I would not have thought to use a french cleat.
The French cleat makes a huge difference. It’s just too wobbly if you use picture wire.
Sweet!! I may have to make one myself.
Good luck!
I love it. Maybe you can have a second career as a chalkboard designer/creator? Spend around $20 on supplies and sell for double that. Cheaper than PB, but as good looking and probably sturdier. Just a thought!
I could be laziest craftsman selling stuff on Etsy!
My sister has a large chalkboard in her kitchen and I’ve always wanted one. Great job using stuff you already had on hand – I love projects like that.
You know you can make your own chalkboard paint? Just add two tablespoons of unsanded tile grout to one cup of any paint. That way you can make the chalkboard any color you want. I’m gonna do that one of these days . . .
Good tip.
I wonder how someone came up with that formula. You suppose whoever it was was in the garage one day and said, “I need to thicken this paint up. What have we got? Hey, tile grout!”
I got it off the Martha Stewart website, so it probably came from some poor minion of her’s toiling away in her craft mines who was so happy his pick axe finally struck a vein that he didn’t even notice the canary had died.
Well done.
Bonus points to you for knowing (and teaching me) what a French cleat is