DIY Project Board

Happy Monday! Jenn from the Creative Team is here to show us how to make a DIY Project Board that is crazy awesome! This would also be great done as a calendar. Enjoy! -Linda

DIY Project Board

Hi everybody, Jenn here from My Fabuless Life and I’m so excited to be here and share my DIY Project Board.  If you’re like me, the most brilliant of project ideas seem to occur at the most inopportune times, and then by the time I have a chance to actually work on something, all I remember is that I had an idea, but I couldn’t tell you what it was if my life depended on it.   My DIY Project Board was born as a solution to my scatter-brain problem.  Now I have a place to jot down all of those random ideas, hold all of my drawings of project plans I sketch out while waiting at ballet, or stuck in traffic, and plan color and fabric schemes for my rooms and projects.  All you’ll need is a piece of wood, some chalkboard paint, and some stain.

project board

I started with a piece of plywood I had left over from another project and stained the edges with my favorite stain.  I only did the edges since I knew I would be painting the middle (why waste stain, right?)

how to stain wood

I wanted six large sections, so after I taped off the edges with painter’s tape, I measured out my sections with a T Square and drew a very faint pencil line.

how to make a project board

To create my six sections and give it a shabby look, I used one of my favorite furniture distressing techniques: candle wax.  I started with rubbing stain on where I had measured and drawn my pencil line and then I went over the line with the edge of the candle.

how to distress wood

Then I mixed my favorite homemade chalkboard paint and painted the entire thing.  Homemade chalkboard paint, no matter how much you mix, is a little gritty, so I use a small foam touch up roller you can buy in the paint section of the hardware store for about $2.00.  This roller really is key to getting a smooth finish because it will flatten out the lumps in the paint as you roll.

chalkboard paint

After your paint dries, you will be able to see where you made your lines with the candle.  Normally, you would be able to just sand over those lines and the paint would come off easily, but the homemade chalkboard paint creates a pretty strong bond, so I scraped along my lines with the end of a butter knife and the paint flaked right off, creating the border for my six sections.

how to make chalkboard

The paint is also fairly rough when it dries, so I gave the whole thing a very light sanding with fine (220 grit) sandpaper.  This is actually the first time I’ve ever sanded one of my homemade chalkboards and it made such a difference.  The last step is to make sure you treat your chalkboard by rubbing chalk over the whole thing and wiping it off. Treating it prevents etching when you write on your board.

Note: the clothespins are stuck in place with tacky gum.

diy chalkboard

Now I not only have a place to keep all of my ideas, but a pretty substantial piece to dress up the wall in my office.  If you don’t need a project board, this would also make a great calendar or memo board for a message center.

organization board

How do you keep your crafts and projects organized? 

Thanks for stopping by today!

happy crafting,

Jenn

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Jenn Menteer

Jenn Menteer

Jenn Menteer

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