Happy long weekend everyone. Hope you are all able to look back on a summer filled with some great memories. Here is a crafty little project I undertook in the waning lazy afternoons of summer. Framed chalkboards can be found all over the DIY world. Used for everything from marking table numbers at weddings to elaborately written quotes for the home. So if there is a little spot in your home that could use a touch of inspiration, this might do the trick. And once you have a few supplies on hand, these are easily put together for another spot in your home, for party table decor, or for gifts.
I was inspired by this little frame that was no longer being used. I’m kind of big on reframing stuff so I always have a drawer full of frames that are out of circulation. This one was small enough to experiment on and also had some pretty detail. But I wasn’t in love with the finish…probably why it got put out of circulation. Here it is already sanded a little bit and the dust wiped down with some tack cloth.
So I experimented with a product called milk paint in powdered form. I’d used it once upon a time in premixed form when we were setting up rooms for new babies. We had bought unfinished Mennonite style furniture and this was the paint they sold there, by a company called Homestead House. As you can imagine by the name it comes in beautiful heritage colours. You can read up on their website about all its other amazing qualities…non-toxic, odourless, zero VOC… Best of all you don’t need to use a primer.
It comes like this, and I literally mixed it half a tablespoon powder to one tablespoon water, in a paper cup with a kitchen whisk. Not what the instructions said at all. So there you go. You can hardly go wrong with this product. Play around with it till you get the look you’re after.
The paint easily dries within half an hour. I used two coats of paint, then sanded it a tiny bit along the detail and around the edges and corners. The finish is then very chalky and flat, and needs to be sealed. This wax is amazing for that but unfortunately not easy to come by around here. If you happen to have a Mr. Personally who is travelling to a random place like Alpharetta Georgia, you can commission him to do a bit of shopping and pick you up a jar of this, plus a jar of the antique wax while he’s at it. On his way to the airport. Before the shop closes. I don’t think that’s too much to ask.
For the chalkboard I actually just painted the cardboard backing that came with the frame. What a cheater. Don’t forget before using a new chalkboard surface to rub it completely with chalk dust. I wanted to add some other small embellishment as well, that’s the whole point of making things yourself, right? This little flower pick is from Creative Bag. I just tucked it through the frame backing to the front.
As I write this Teenaged Daughter is practicing the most exquisite Chopin Arabesque on the piano. Heavenly. Just one of my ten thousand reasons.
Just the thing to personalize this little corner on the mantel. And the finish is exactly what I was hoping for…a little bit more textured and worn in a vintage-y colour. Are you inspired? On to bigger and better milk paint projects, I think…
...personally, Andrea
linked to DIY show off and the farmhouse porch and a stroll thru life
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