Kitchen Chalkboard Tutorial

I know there are a lot of tutorials for kitchen menu boards or kitchen chalkboards online, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to share how I did it.

Before:

 

Please excuse the filthy wall.  My aprons usually hang on that hook there and I had no idea that mess was behind them.  I cleaned it all up after I took this photo.

You will need

• something to thoroughly clean the surface with
• a method of sanding or keying the surface so that the paint adheres well
• masking tape 
• something to cover any areas you don't want to paint
• a tin of chalkboard paint
• a screwdriver

I took the door off it's hinges, took it outside and used plastic bags to cover any areas I didn't want paint on, attaching these with masking tape. I cleaned the surface thoroughly with sugar soap solution, sanded it lightly, and wiped off any dust.

Lots of light layers are better than trying to build up thick layers.  Follow the directions on your can, but for this one it said layers could be just minutes apart.

Eventually I ended up with this:

 

I got it put back up on the kitchen cabinet once it was touch dry but you have to wait 24 hours for it to be "hard dry" before you can use it.

Then you take a piece of chalk on its side and cover the whole surface of the board.

Wipe that off and you are ready to use it as a chalkboard. 

I added another level to mine and pulled out my white paint pen.

I printed out the things I wanted to write up there onto paper, chalked over the back of the paper, held it up to the cabinet and wrote over it with a pencil.  This transferred the exact font I wanted to the cabinet in chalk and I went over that with the paint pen.

I'm really pleased with it.

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Why not check out my other posts and see what else I have been up to this week, what I have planned this summer or come back later in the week to see how my sourdough starter is coming along.