Pinspire Me Monday: Framed Chalkboard

Welcome to the first {official}

I hope you will play along and link up some of your Pinspired Projects (see the sidebar).


This was one of my first Pins, so it is only fitting that it be my first Pinspire Me project:

photo credit: English Organizer

When I saw this fabulous chalkboard, I knew I had the perfect frame to use for it just sitting in our attic:

 Here's a little background {feel free to skip right over this}:
This was the first piece of art that hubby and I bought for our first home in 1998.  When we moved to our new home in 2004, I thought I would be oh so cool and give the frame a white wash treatment to better match our decor here.  I not so quickly discovered that a white frame on this piece of art completely washed out the colors of the picture.  I then tried to undo my mistake by sanding off the paint.  Ummm, that didn't quite work in all the intricate detailed parts.  So I stashed the whole thing up in the attic and tried to forget how I ruined it (thankfully hubby and I had both grown tired of the picture anyway).

Fast forward 7 years and enter this Pinspiring chalkboard frame:


Here's all it took

ONE:

Any frame will do, but ornate vintage looking frames add that special something.
Scour those fall yard sales and see what you can find.  It's the thrill of the hunt, right?!

 TWO:

Seriously, I almost skipped this part.
I mean how much grime can one little picture frame gather from 7 years in an attic {wink}.


THREE:

 I got out the old Frog Tape, which worked beautifully by the way, and taped off the frame.  Typically I go rogue and skip the taping part, but I had little hands helping me with the painting.  Better safe than sorry I always say.

FOUR:

Just some good old fashioned chalkboard paint.  I've had this one little can for years and have painted several surfaces with it.  It's like the magic pot of paint that just keeps replenishing itself.
This took two coats to cover.

FIVE:
Paint the frame.  Completely spaced on the photos here {whoops, sorry!}.  But I can tell you I did another wash (just mix a little water in with the paint).  I didn't want to get bogged down with even coverage in all those tiny cracks and crevices, so this was the easiest solution.

And voila!

Now I gotta get hubby to hang it up on the wall in the kitchen.  This baby is HEAVY!

ETA:  Forget hubby. I go to Pilates, I have {a tiny bit of} muscle in my arms.  Got the board hung into the studs and everything.  Hubs will be so proud!

Your turn.  Link up your Pinspired Projects in the side bar.  Can't wait to see what has Pinspired you lately!

Have a fantastically inspired week!