DIY- Kitchen Chalkboard Wall

Welp, it's Monday, the start to a new week. And this week will be great because every morning when I have breakfast, I will be able to admire my newest craft, my Chalkboard Wall!This is my spin on Shanty-2-Chic's tutorial. You can find the original here.

Materials-

Chalkboard Paint (I prefer the can paint vs spray paint for this craft)

Paint Roller and Paint tray

Wood to make your frame (We purchased 2 1x4x8's)

Screws and Screwdriver or Drill

Stain

Polyurethane  (I prefer the spray can)

Staining Rag/pad, old towel

Chalk

Painters Tape

 

 Step 1- Get the Materials! I just wanted to add this photo because it was nice to have team effort on this project! 

Step 2- Disclaimer- We did this craft a little backwards. I started off my measuring the wall and eyeballing where I thought it would be a good fit. I decided it would be 4ft tall and 2.5 feet wide. While Trevor was building the frame, I was painting the wall! I just used a paint roller and poured some paint in my tray and went to town! After 30 minutes (I believe) I did another coat and in the end I did 3 or 4 coats. (The can will tell you how much time in between to wait for each coat!)

As you can see, I got a little carried away in the upper right hand corner and got some paint on the outside of the tape, but the frame is thicker than that, so it covered it. :) Phew!

Step 3-Another important step with any chalkboard crafts is after it has dried, to run over the entire surface with the side of the chalk. It acts as an activator and makes it easier to erase whatever you decide to draw or write on it. :)

Step 4- Time to stain! I chose the same stain that the ladies from Shanty-2-Chic used, and am SO happy I did! This brand dried in one hour and was so smooth to apply! And only one coat was needed. And in my kitchen, this color was VERY similar after it had dried! Yay!

Step 5- Let it dry the hour! Just leave it alone. :) While this dried, I was working on the chalkboard writing and what I wanted to put on there.

Step 6 - After the stain has dried, I did a few coats of Polyurethane to make it even more durable. I took it outside and sprayed the top half and let it dry for 30 minutes, then flipped it upside down and did the other half. The can says to allow 4 hours for it to completely dry before handling. It was hard, but we were able to wait. :)

Step 7- Trevor went to work on hanging the frame! He was a little creative with hanging and went from underneath and above so we didn't see the screws. There were two studs that we were able to attach the frame too as well, which was helpful.

 

Here is my handsome man checking his work.
I love the way it turned out! There was many ways to do this craft and I chose to build the frame as one and then attach it just in case we wanted to take it down, it would be a little easier. Our cousins did something very similar and when they built the frame, they just glued and nail-gunned it to the wall instead of building it then attaching it and it looks great as well! :) I think this was the perfect way to fill up the blank wall in our kitchen!