DIY Chalkboard–Made With Weathered Wood

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A few months ago, my neighborhood had a bulky trash pick up day, as most neighborhoods do–I am still kicking myself for not driving around to see what treasures my neighbors were tossing to the curb.  

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I remember seeing quite a few people driving around with their trailers piled high of curbside finds, and can’t believe I didn’t have the same thought.  Oh well, now I know for next time… *insert evil laugh*

I did, however, manage to get my head out of the clouds and snatch up a few very weathered fence pickets from my neighbor’s trash pile.  My husband rolled his eyes at me, but I knew I could create something with that old weathered wood.

Well, the day finally came that I decided exactly what I wanted to make.  Decisions never come easy for me, so once I finalized this project in my brain, I knew I had to get started before I changed my mind again.  

What did I decide to make??  A DIY Chalkboard to go in our dining room! 

DIY Chalkboard Pin

Here’s what you will need for a DIY chalkboard:

**Home Depot does carry MDF that is already coated with chalkboard paint, but I chose not to use these.  Most of them in the store were pretty banged up so I would have had to paint them anyway. 

Start by cutting the MDF to size.  The size I used was 24″x 30″.  I used this size because the MDF was already 24″ wide, and I wanted the chalkboard taller than wide.

My hubby was so nice to cut my MDF to size for me, because there is no way I could cut a straight line with our circular saw. 

After that, and a quick run through of how our miter saw worked from my hubby, I was off. 

Miter saw

I created the frame for my DIY chalkboard pretty quickly.  I cut the boards for the frame 2″ longer than the MDF, so I would have overlap to attach the two when I was finished. 

After I cut the pieces for the frame, I gave them a quick sanding to get rid of any splinters.  Then I put 2 coats of polyeurathane on each piece.  I love how the poly brought out the grain and different colors in the weathered wood.

Frame pieces

While that was drying, I primed the MDF, and painted 3 coats of chalkboard paint on top.  

Since it was 100+ degrees WITH humidity, it took 24 hours for everything to dry completely.

Next I used a little bit of glue, and the nail gun, to attach the frame pieces to the MDF.  I didn’t take any pictures of this, but it was pretty easy.  I laid out the MDF, put some wood glue on the edges, then set my frame pieces on top.  Once they were set how I wanted, I used the nail gun to nail it together.  

DIY Chalkboard

I let the glue dry for another 24 hours before setting it up.

It’s the perfect addition to our dining room, and I love having a large chalkboard to change out for each season.  

Happy All Things Pumpkin

I love how this chalkboard turned out, and it was SO easy to do.  Even if you don’t have any old weathered wood, you can still make a frame out of 1×4’s and stain. Just note that you may need 1″ brad nails vs. 3/4″. 

I still have some pieces of fence left, and my head is already swimming with what I can do with them!

What are some of your favorite curbside finds?

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If you liked this post, be sure to check out my other chalkboard creations!

Chalkboard-Menu-Pin square

DIY Chalkboard Menu

Painted-Pots-Final square

Chalkboard Labeled Planters

8 Comments

  1. This turned out darling, Amanda! Thank you for the great step by step.
    Thank you for sharing this week at Brag About It link party on VMG206 (Mondays at Midnight). I plan to feature you next week!
    ~ Megin of VMG206

  2. Beautiful! I LOVE all things with weathered wood 🙂 Thanks for sharing at the Create With Me party! Next month is leather projects 🙂 Pinned!

  3. I’m always so amazed by you! This looks so good! Pinned and tweeted. I appreciate you taking the time to party with us. I hope to see you on Monday at 7. Happy Saturday! Lou Lou Girls

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