Professional kid wrangler

Professional kid wrangler

Wednesday 29 April 2015

Handy 'upcycle' chalkboard sign (No chalkboard paint required)

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Handy 'upcycle' chalkboard sign

(No chalkboard paint required)




   Anyone who knows me personally recognizes my need to find a bargain. I hate paying full price for anything, especially things I can make myself. I love thrift stores and finding second hand deals. So when my partner and I decided we needed one of those fancy chalkboard signs for shows, I wanted to try to make us one for as little money as possible.

  The first thing I did was visit our local Value Village. Although I much prefer Bibles for Missions in Bowmanville (I haven't had the chance to visit the Oshawa location yet), I was pressed for time (as always since I have three kids under five) and I knew Value Village would have what I need.

  Although most tutorials advise painting a mirror, I decided against it because of the weight and the possibility it could break. Instead I chose this little gem, which I believe is a calendar holder. I liked that it was made from nice wood and that there were two separate areas for writing.



I had some leftover chalk paint from Michaels, I bought this with a 40 per cent off coupon from my Michaels app. I used it to repaint the front of a small dresser and for this project and I still have half a tub left. I used a small sponge paintbrush and a small bristle brush. The sponge brushes go on sale at Michaels 10 for a $1 and the bristle brush is out of a pack from Dollarama. I happened to have both on hand.

For the blackboard part I did not want to pay big bucks for blackboard paint and I knew I had some black Dollarama paint kicking around the house. I tried some free Facebook pages to get some grout but then remembered my dad recently refinished his bathroom. I only needed about a tablespoon so my pops was happy to give me a little making my chalkboard paint cost me less than a dollar.

The first thing I did was do a first coat of the chalk paint on the outside wood area using the large sponge brush. If you leave it with just one coat it will have the 'shabby chic' look, but because I am a perfectionist control freak I had to do a second layer so it was completely covered.


Next I took the top of an old margarine container and poured some black paint on it. I then added about a spoonful of grout and used my (washed out and clean) sponge brush to mix it and apply






And that's it. I used the finer brush to clean up any mistakes and to do the edging. The little bit of grout in the paint turns it into a chalkboard! This cheap project is fun and easy. Perfect for anyone looking to add a little fun to their space.

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