You may remember Carla from back when we helped her transform her kitchen with some paint and a few simple switcheroos. So when she sent over her great little DIY chalkboard calendar project we had to share it. Here’s her letter:
I had to pass along our latest update – we made a chalkboard wall calendar in our kitchen! We were inspired by none other than Master Crafter Martha Stewart and thought that her chalkboard wall calendar idea would look great in our home. To my surprise, it was fairly simple to do – all you need is black chalkboard paint, a few foam brushes, white paint (which we had plenty of from our kitchen cabinet painting project), unsanded tile grout, lots of blue tape (Frog Tape was out of stock and I was very apprehensive about using the blue stuff, but it actually worked!) and a shoebox lid for mixing (resourceful, right?!). Her directions on How to Make Custom Color Chalkboard Paint were fairly simple to follow and we even conquered the different shaded blocks too! Woot! Woot! It was so funny to see one of your previous posts about Lyzz and her chalkboard painted door because we were in the beginning stages of figuring out the whole thing ourselves, so it was a help and I had to share. We hope you enjoy the pictures! Thanks again for having such a wonderful blog and CONGRATS again on your baby girl news!! -Carla
Here’s how things looked once Carla had applied some black chalkboard paint as a base:
Here’s an in-progress shot with a few of Carla’s squares taped off and ready for some custom chalk board paint:
And here’s the gorgeous after thanks to her fabulous handiwork:
Didn’t Carla do a great job? We love the different custom chalk board colors that she whipped up and the fun and functional grid that she created with simple supplies like painter’s tape and a shoebox lid. Thanks so much for sending the photos our way Carla! Is there anyone else out there who’s thinking of tackling this task now that Carla has demonstrated how great it can look?
I really love this. I’ve never thought about making custom chalkboard colors. What a great and functional idea.
LOVE the custom chalkboard! I’d love to try this!!
Cute! I love the different tones on the calendar!
It looks so good! I also can’t help but also notice that great clock next to the chalkboard.
Looks fantastic! I love the different shades of color – it adds so much personality. Great job, Carla!
I love the look of the finished chalkboard next to the old fashioned clock and the black subway tile back splash! Kind of a meeting of the decades. I love it!
LOVE the clock! Carla, if you’re out there…do you mind sharing where you got it?
I LOVE this!
Oh, I so want to do this on the side of our refrigerator! A big giant one. LOVE the different colors she used!
I do love the calender, but I also really want to know where that clock is from. Please share, Carla!!
oh my goodness!!! i love love LOVE this idea! i only wish we were in our “forever” house so that i could try it out myself! definitely storing it in the idea book though! awesome!
This look fabulous! I wish I had someplace to do this… great job Carla :)
I love this! I’m going start looking for a place do one in my house.
Has anyone had experience with “chalkboard” paper? It’s adhesive like contact paper but has a chalk board-ish coating on it. I picked up a roll on a clearance rack at A.C. Moore this past weekend and I’m thinking about framing a piece of it to hang near our back door. Any advice?
what a cute spin with the color blocking!
I am almost positive the clock is from Ballard Designs (because I would love to own it myself), but I can’t seem to find it on their website anymore. Maybe someone else can back me up on this?
We’re sure Carla will be dropping in soon with that clock answer for everyone! She’s really good about answering questions pretty quickly. Stay tuned…
xo,
s
Brooke, I agree! Maybe there’s some way we can do this and have it be portable? We will be renting until my husband graduates from pharmacy school in two years, so I am trying to think of projects to do that I can take with me from house to house!
Heather- Perhaps you can make your chalkboard on a piece of plywood (and use little hooks to hang it like we did for our bathroom sign art) to keep things portable? Hope it helps!
Roseanna- Good question. Anyone care to weigh in about chalkboard paper?
xo,
s
What a great idea! I have two magnet boards painted onto my kitchen wall that I framed with old glassless frames. The magnet works for somethings but I have recently been contemplating adding chalkboard paint so we can draw pictures and possibly have a calendar. Having a bunch of ‘stuff’ up on our magnet board has looked a little more messy then I had planned so I may use this idea to recreate it. Here’s how it is now: http://www.oliveandlove.com/2009/02/home-communication-center-will-always.html
Thanks for the idea! i’ll send a picture when i’m done!
-Laura
I think there is a perfect spot in my kitchen for one of these! Thanks for the inspiration Carla! :)
I love it! I wish I had somewhere to do something like that, I sure could use it. Great Job
I love this!
For those looking for a temporary solution, check out the removable chalkboards Wallies carries. http://www.wallies.com/chalkboard-pages-18.php
I have tried the peel and stick chalkboard paper. I use it with chalk markers though… the coolest invention ever!!!!! It does work with regular chalk too. The chalk markers are “permanent” when they dry but wipe off with a damp cloth (great for marking dates on containers in the fridge too), the colors are crisp, no chalk dust and it’s so easy to do “fancy” writing/drawing with them.
WOW! that is a kick a** idea! i love it!!! she’s creative, that one.
i just recently painted my kitchen cabinets white and her kitchen was one of my inspirations.
btw i love your site!
CARLA!!! this rocks and is awesome…
i’m kinda over all the plan jane chalkboards for nothing (i use kinda loosely…we’re actually thinking about doing a side of our cabinet in chalkboard and doing a inspirational quote/verse of the week…hmmm, still might)
ANYWHO…i love love love this idea about the calendar…
pretty much genius, so BRAVO!!! and yes to that clock…it’s GORG!
– http://www.casacullen.com
It looks great, very creative!
GENIUS!! I have a massive chalkboard with a calendar on it in our kitchen and am sick of redrawing the lines every month – even with the calk pen. This is the perfect solution to that!!! Cant wait to bust out my chalkboard paint!!
This is my favorite of the chalkboard paint redesigns- looks awesome and I love the varied colors.
I feel like there have been a LOT of chalkboard paint redesigns lately, though. There’s the one you linked to, and https://www.younghouselove.com/reader-redesign-door-decor/, and it seems like there were more. I know you’ve got some super creative readers and I would love to see other, non-chalkboard ideas.
Wow she did an amazing job. I’m glad she shared her project-I’m just so amazed at the talent of others.
Kathy T
hah, I customed a white dry erase board, but haven’t quite gotten to the finished version yet…..that is….applying the paint. My dry erase is lined with painters tape, ready to be done up, but I haven’t gotten around to it yet.
And, the boyfriend weirdly claims he likes it.
Hm
Like Heather, our current home is not our “forever home” and has fairly new cabinetry, so we also did not want to make any permanent changes that potential buyers might see as “damage” to the cabinets. We added a corkboard and chalkboard to the side of our cabinet using 3M picture hanging strips – they’ve been up for a few months and still totally secure, and are removable without any damage to the cabinets!
Love this idea! I just saw a picture of your “drop zone” by your laundry room in the Better Homes & Gardens Special Interest Publications – Secrets of Getting Organized. I also saw a 9 section ceramic egg carton dish at JoAnn Fabrics today in their Easter section.
We had no idea we were in there. Can’t wait to check it out. Thanks for the heads up!
xo,
s
So Cute!!
Job well done :-)
Wow! That is amazing!! Fabulous job, Carla! I actually just did my own chalkboard project (idea borrowed from Ikea hack) and it came out really easy and pretty. If you’d like to check it out:
http://lovelifelists.blogspot.com/2010/03/chalkboard-chalkboard-on-wall.html
This is cool! There’s nothing like a good ole inspirational project that makes ya smile. I just love this blog!
i love how this looks, but wonder where the full 12-month calendar is hanging/stored, since there are always things coming up after the current month that need to be written down and easily accessible for everyone to see.
I’m so sorry for the delay – thanks to everyone for all of the kind words!!
Oooh the clock… well I can tell you we bought it in Lambertville, NJ about 2 years ago BUT I cannot remember the name of the shop!! Lambertville is notorious for antiques and art shops – definitely worth a stop if you’re close by. Sorry I can’t be of more help!! I know you could probably find something similar to it – it’s called a Double-Sided Train Station Clock and ours was roughly $350 (my husband bought it as a *splurge* birthday gift for himself) but I’m pretty sure you can find it for less.
Haha and I definitely have a planner that keeps all of the upcoming events, appointments, birthdays, etc. I just simply add everything to the calendar when the months change. It has turned out to be really helpful because my husband actaully knows what’s going on for the month!
Thanks again for posting our calendar, Sherry & John!
Hey Carla,
Thanks for dropping in with that info. We’re so glad everyone’s digging your chalkboard calendar as much as we are!
xo,
s
Brilliant! I LOVE it!
LOVE THIS!! I think I may combine this idea with the door idea….now to convinse the hubs!!
And FYI: I saw a similar version of the clock at target and at marshalls (I think its similar to homegoods)
Thanks for the clock tip Stephanie!
xo,
s
Oh! I’m so happy to see this today. I remember seeing this Martha project and bookmarking it to make someday. This week I was actually considering tackling it soon and then I see this…perfect timing. I’m glad to hear it was simple. You did a fantastic job!
This is fabulous! Love all those shades of gray!
And it reminds me of a tutorial I wrote last week for something called a “pocektin board” – it’s a bulletin board – with pockets! If you have time, take a look – I’m really happy with how it came out, and it’s really quite easy for anyone with rudimentary sewing skills!
http://www.candiedfabrics.com/2010/03/04/pocketin-board-tutorial-ready-for-download/
I LOVE her kitchen redo and have been wanting to tackle something similar with my kitchen. Question for those of you who have painted furniture – how does it wear? I have two little kids and am worried about it chipping, getting dinged and just getting plain grimmy from little fingers. Is it hard to maintain? Does it stay looking nice? Cabinets are so expensive to replace…I am worried about “ruining” them with paint and having to replace them when we move in a couple of years!
Hey Erin,
We can chime in on that subject since we’ve painted a bunch of furniture and our old cabinets. If you follow this furniture method and this cabinet method (or some other professionally recommended process) and use good primer, apply thin and even coats of paint, and allow everything ample time to dry (so important) your finish should last decades- even with heavy use and grubby fingers. We have tables we painted over three years ago (and also helped John’s sister paint her cabinets four years ago) and both of these projects still look mint- even though they’re used (and sometimes abused) every single day. It really is all about prep work and doing a thorough job that makes all the difference (slapping paint on cabinets or spray painting a table isn’t the way to go when you can take the time to do it right and enjoy it for years! And we’d love for anyone else with painted cabinets or furnishings to weigh in on how they wear over time for Erin!
xo,
s
The chalkboard is such a great idea! I love it!
Love love love this! I just did a similar project by repurposing an ikea cupboard and was googling techniques when I found yours. Its gorgeous!
http://www.treasurehuntergirl.blogspot.com/
Love all Your ideas and house decorating Style.