DIYsis

…or maybe like nine.

I have always loved chalkboard paint and have seen people do inspiring things with those adorable quarts. Menu walls in the kitchen? Mason jar labels? An unconventional headboard?

All images found via Pinterest

I needed to get my hands on some. But living the apartment dream makes it a bit impossible to do anything drastic. Painting a chunk of wall in my kitchen or dining room would have been ideal, but alas, I have no interest in repainting when I move.

So I had to compromise my vision.

On one of my far too frequent Goodwill trips, as I was doing my usual lap of the store, I decided to branch out and thumb through the “art” section- a giant storage bin jammed with weird paintings and things you would probably never consider framing.

And then blam. There it was. Some creepy print of what might once have been an oil painting of a young girl. That wasn’t what got me though. It was the frame.

Please excuse this horrible picture. It's amazing I even got one- I was just so excited. This is legit the only "before" photo I have. And it isn't even entirely a "before"!

You can’t really tell because this photo is no bueno, but the frame is all notched and textural and interesting along the edge. So dreamy.

Sorry I promptly covered up the creepy girl photo. That’s step one in this little tutorial…jk.

First I cleaned my under $5 find. You can use a damp cloth or something like a Clorex wipe. If your frame has a glossy finish (perhaps a wood frame with some kind of polyurethane on it, or a previous painted frame with a semi-gloss topcoat, etc.) be sure to give it a light sanding. Use a fine grit sandpaper, a 150 grit or higher should do you. The point of this is to remove the sheen so your paint has a surface it can get some grip on. You don’t want to scratch up and mar the surface, which is why you should definitely not use a medium or coarse grit sandpaper. I am a fan of 3M sanding sponges- very easy on the hand and they last a good amount of time.

Once your frame is cleaned, deglossed, and wiped down again to remove any sanding dust, it’s time to tape and cover ‘er up! I decided to start with the chalkboard paint on the frame as opposed to spray painting partly because I didn’t know what color I wanted the frame, but mostly because I knew I wanted the frame to be glossy and if any of my glossy paint got on my glass it would have made for a poor chalkboard surface.

Out came my blue tape (classic). All you really need is a bit right along the glass so that when you cut in and roll you don’t make a mess of your frame. If you do make a bit of a mess, it is pretty easily resolved by some light sanding a few good coats of spray paint.

There are a few different options for chalkboard paints on the market. I used Rustoleum’s black chalkboard paint, but Krylon recently came out with their own paint too- with a spray paint version to boot! I would recommend either of these brands for your project- not too pricey for good products. I also used a 1.5″ angle sash brush and a black foam 4″ mini roller to complete this project as well.

Always start with your brushwork- cutting in along the edge of your frame (though the same thing applies to walls too!) gives you a surface to work into. Your roller will always leave you with a finer finish, but your brush gives you more control, so brush out the areas you don’t want to mess up, giving yourself an inch or two of cut in and be sure to roll into a portion of this area. Ta da- professional looking mini paint job!

With most chalkboard paints, you need to do at least two coats to get a durable surface you can write on. Most paints recommend you prime. I am a rebel and also incredibly impatient sooooo I chose not to prime. LOOKING BACK (and doing one of those horrible “Do as I say, not as I do” kind of things), you should probably use an adhesion/bonding primer, something with grip to make sure your paint sticks to the glass surface of the frame for the long haul. All that being said, I did a solid 3 or 4 coats without priming and let it sit and cure. You shouldn’t write on it for at least 24 hours, but I also waited about a day before attacking the frame.

Now it was time to cover my new chalkboard and slowly but surely spray the frame. It took a few nice thin coats of Krylon’s gloss white topped off with Minwax clear poly in gloss. What can I say- I like my crafts SHINY. The poly is definitely an unnecessary step, and it sometimes can make the white paint underneath seem a bit dull and yellowed, so just be mindful of that! While you’re waiting for everything to dry, go out and try to find some chalk. I went to about 5 stores before finding mine for under a dollar at Staples!

So what do you think? Have your own apartment friendly chalkboard adventure you’d like to share?