One of the things I think every "farmhouse" style room needs is some kind of chalkboard. I personally think any room needs a chalkboard. I have oh....five or six chalkboards I've made lying around. They are my favorite. So. We are almost near the end of finishing up our dining room (which is a joke really because a room is never truly "done" is it?) and the room needed a chalkboard sign. I didn't want to spend money on it though. So I started searching through old frames I have lying around in the basement or under beds and in closets. I do actually have quite a few. This one didn't have glass so it obviously couldn't do much in the photo sense. It was the perfect size but definitely not the perfect frame style.
I started my spray paint addiction that day.
I took the backing off and spray painted the entire frame white. Just your average plain Jane white. While that was drying I went back inside and started painting the backing with my chalkboard paint. It was a good strong cardboard back and I knew it would work perfectly. I did a total of three coats on that, switching the direction of my brush strokes with each coat.
Once the frame was dry I used a rag and our scratch cover from Old English for dark woods (that I literally use on everything) and I lightly rubbed down the entire frame, wiping off as much as I thought I wanted. Just enough to make it look more off white than stark white. I left more on the frame around the edges and the corners to give it a more naturally aged look.
Once it was dry I hung it up. Three days later I "primed" the board which basically means covering the entire thing in chalk, using the length of a stick of chalk. Then erase that before writing.
I used this same spray paint and scratch cover routine on any number of things after this. Urns. Picture frames. The little pot that those Ikea plants come in.... Oh yeah. If it isn't nailed down I'm pretty sure I considered painting it.
Still might, come to think of it.
