If you are into easy DIYs, then these DIY Framed Chalkboards are for you. A few years back, my mom hung a huge chalkboard by our back door after getting inspired from Maria Goff’s book, Love Lives Here. (An amazing book, FYI.) Our family loves writing quotes and verses on it that we want to remember, welcome messages to family and guests coming over, and holiday artwork.
A couple months back, Elijah & I were given dozens of old frames by a kind family at church. As I started dreaming up projects, I knew Elijah & I needed our own porch chalkboard, so why not 3?! Whenever Elijah took the ceiling down to prep for our daybed swing, he had some extra wood leftover. They were the perfect scraps to cut into chalkboards!
DIY Framed Chalkboard Steps
1. Cut the Wood for the Frames
First, cut the wood to fit the frames. We used plywood. If you don’t have any frames laying around, take a few trips to the thrift store to see what you can come up with! Remember, you can always remove ugly art, just pay attention to the frames!
2. Paint the Chalkboards
Next, buy a quart of black Rust-oleum chalkboard paint, and paint at least 3 coats on the wood with a brush. (Tip: I know it’s tempting, but do not get the spray paint! I’ve found from past projects that it is harder to write and erase on! )
3. Secure the Wood into the Frames
Once the paint dries, secure the painted wood into the frames with tiny nails in the back. We hung ours on the front porch by screwing them directly into the wall with trim-head screws. I love how they don’t budge when I write on them, plus they aren’t going anywhere!
4. Prime the Chalkboards!
As hard as it is, wait three days before priming the boards with chalk. This may be the most important step: prime the boards! Unless you want your original chalkboard art to stay on them forever, don’t skip the priming step. Believe me, I’ve made this mistake in the past! To prime, take a piece of chalk & rub it all over like the picture above. Then, erase with a dry paper towel. It should look like the picture below. It wouldn’t hurt anything to repeat this step again.
5. Add your chalk art & enjoy your DIY framed chalkboards!
Finally, for the fun part…it is time to chalk-art your little heart away!!
I love the quirkiness it adds to the porch.
They are the first things we see when we walk in our house, and our view from the porch daybed swing. (Speaking of the daybed swing, we got it hung this past weekend! I can’t wait to share pictures & get another blog post together!)
Our little porch is coming together! If you don’t remember or haven’t seen “the before,” you can see pictures in this post!
If you end up making your own DIY framed chalkboard, don’t forget to tag @fernwayhome & share it with us! We would absolutely love to see!
Hope you have a wonderful week!
Daisy Sue
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