diy wall chalkboard

so it all started with these beautiful chalkboards from restoration hardware.  however i could not choke down the $745 price tag for the large one which is about the size i wanted for our dining room wall.  so i did what i do and put one together on my own.

my husband is the master mind behind the construction of this baby.  he started with some thin smooth finish ply board.  he then decided he wanted to support the ply board for fear if it waffled back and forth too much during the framing and hanging process it might crack the chalkboard paint.  he simply put wood to frame the back side and we glued it with wood glue you buy in the tube.  we then clamped it and allowed a couple hours drying time.

once that was dry we flipped it over and i started applying my chalkboard paint.  i bought a small foam roller so it would go on smoothly.  i applied three coats of paint following the instructions on the back of the can. (i have to say that i painted this on the dining room table that i swore i would never ever craft on when i bought it.  super risky but didn't want to be moving this baby around too much after finishing it.)

once dry we put a frame around it i picked up at the thrift store. (my husband was so happy he didn't have to build one.  that was originally what i asked him to do.)  it was already antiqued for me so didn't have to do a thing to it.  love it when that happens!  my chalkboard is 4 foot by 5.5 feet.  rather big you certainly could go a lot smaller and the project would probably be a little easier and less labor intensive to put together.

i love the finished product and all in total i spent somewhere around $80-$90 for all of my supplies including the frame.  i love the end product and look forward to changing it up whenever i feel like it.