My New Chalkboard for the Kitchen

Ever since we moved into our new home I've been wanting a chalkboard for the kitchen.  My first inspiration came from Janell at Isabella & Max Rooms.  She has a great tutorial on how to build your own chalkboard message board, which you can find here.  I would have loved to do this, but decided to go with something a bit simpler.  During a recent trip to Goodwill, I stumbled upon this beauty:

For $4 I couldn't pass up such a great wooden frame.  I didn't want a huge board, so this was just the right size, and I loved the depth of the wood--perfect for what I wanted. 

After removing the glass and picture from the frame, I spray painted the entire frame with Krylon gloss white (sorry, no pictures).  When I turned it over to finish, I didn't check to make sure the paint was dry, so when I thought I was ready to complete my project, there was newspaper stuck to the frame!  Distressing hadn't been in my original plan, but thanks to my moment of neglect the chalkboard frame is beautifully distressed and I love it!

My husband told me a few weeks ago that if I was going to distress anything else I needed to research more how to do it.  This was his gentle way of saying that what I had tried didn't look right.  He agreed that I did a much better job with this distressing job.  Thanks, honey.

The chalkboard is simply the original picture and glass, just spray painted with chalkboard spray paint.  I applied 4 coats of paint, allowed it to dry for 24 hours, and then rubbed chalk over the entire surface.  It sat like this for a couple of weeks until we finally got around to hanging it last night. 

Here's a little tip for hanging large frames that might move around (such as when writing on a chalkboard):

Cut triangle shaped pieces of felt for each corner of your frame.  Then attach with hot glue.  

The hardware needed to be replaced, so Bradley attached some new hooks and placed a piece of wire across the entire frame.  

Here's the finished product:

I love that I can use this chalkboard for all kinds of things, but right now it's a scriptural reminder of what I need to work on this week.  

The breakfast nook with new chalkboard and fresh flowers from a sweet friend.

 Linking to:
End of August Thrifty Treasures at Southern Hospitality

Recycled Jars to Chalkboard Containers

I love the various containers that are out there for storing food in the pantry.  And, now that I actually have a pantry, I'd love to be able to use them.  However, if you haven't noticed, it's quite pricey to buy enough of them to beautify your pantry.  My solution?  Turn old jars into canisters:

Here's how I did it:

I removed the label from two spaghetti jars (any jar would do), and soaked them in soapy water for a few hours.  Having rice, beans, etc., that smell like spaghetti sauce would not be acceptable.  Just to be sure the smell was gone, I also ran them through the dishwasher.

Then, I determined where I wanted my chalkboard label.

Using painter's tape, I taped around the remainder of the jar.

This is the spray paint that I used:

I did three coats of paint, waiting about 20 minutes between each coat, and then let it sit for several hours before removing the tape.

When the tape came off, there were a few spots of paint outside of my label area.  Surely there is a more professional way to do this, but I simply removed those spots with my thumbnail and it did the trick.

Now, you're supposed to let chalkboard paint dry for 24 hours before you write on it, so in an attempt to actually follow the directions on a project, rather than being impatient, I waited.

While it was drying, I worked on the lid.  Have you seen all of the jute that is being used now?  Well, it's everywhere, and I recently saw some jars at TJMaxx with jute lids.  I found some jute in the garage, and working from the center, I hot-glued it around the top of the jar.

I just kept going around in a circle until the lid top and sides were covered.

Back to the jar.  The paint was dry, so I used the flat side of a piece of chalk and covered the entire chalkboard surface with chalk.  Apparently this allows you to write and erase chalk from the surface later on. I let it sit there for a few hours, erased, and then wrote my labels.

I love looking at my jars and I can't wait to make some more!

On the shelf in the pantry

I'm linking up toThe Stories of A to Z with this tutorial.  Be sure to check out Beth's amazing blog!